


To go down with the Sun

by Majsasaurus



Series: To love and never let go [1]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Crush, Clan drama, Coming Out, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Ino-Shika-Cho Formation (Naruto), Kumogakure | Hidden Cloud Village, M/M, Mental Disorder, Mission going to hell, Shinobi Politics, Team 10, Team Bonding, Team as Family, The parents are trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2020-12-27 01:23:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 82,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21110390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majsasaurus/pseuds/Majsasaurus
Summary: The new system of dual citizenship for shinobi with parents from two different villages was considered a success.But after every success comes a downfall, and after peace comes war.And in the midst of all suspicion and hatred, the youngest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho is facing destruction when they are forced into the epicentre of a political mess.





	1. Bastards

**Author's Note:**

> Shikadai is a dual citizen of Konoha and Suna, and wields an iron fan as weapon just like his mother alongside his other jutsus.
> 
> Chocho is a dual citizen of Konoha and Kumo.
> 
> Shikadai and Inojin like each other, and they are awkwardly trying to make sense out of their relationship.
> 
> This work can be seen as an independent sequel to my other fic "Shadows and Sand", but can be read completely on its own.  
English is not my first language.

Ever since Inojin turned fourteen, his mum had forced (_it’s not forcing, it’s a chore, Inojin, _Ino had said multiple times already) him to work in the flower shop one evening per week. As long as this chore was called “helping”, Inojin actually enjoyed it, but when “helping” turned into “having full responsibility of the shop and the costumers” he’d rather skip it.

It was the taking care of the costumers-part that made Inojin the most nervous. His mum, she had the most natural way of being around people, but he felt sometimes like a failure beside her. He stumbled on words, forgot to greet older costumers with the right words, and forgot to print out receipts all the time.

In other words, he was a total embarrassment in the shop when he had the full responsibility.

Luckily, this day had been quiet. Maybe it was the hail and bad weather of January that kept the costumers away. After Inojin had rearranged the flowers for the fifth time out of boredom, he sneaked out his handheld game from behind the counter and started playing. And wasn’t it just his luck that he got so consumed by the game that he didn’t acknowledge when a family walked inside. They examined different flowers in peace while Inojin, already dying out of embarrassment, slowly hid his game away. There was a boy in the family that Inojin recognized, he had been in the chunin exam prior to their own. He couldn’t recall any name, but he remembered that he was a skilled weapon master.

The boy looked at Inojin with interest and walked up to him.

“Yamanaka”, he said.

“Yes?” Inojin replied, still eyeing the boy’s parents who were deciding between orange or red roses. Did they need help in deciding? He wanted to leave the counter to go up to them and ask, but the boy had nailed him down to his seat with that piercing gaze of his. “Do you need help?”

The boy snorted.

“He’s not here, right?” he asked, looking at dirt under his fingernails, like Inojin wasn’t even worthy of looking at.

“Who?”

“Your teammate”, the boy said, irritated. “The desert boy.”

“Why would he be here?” Inojin asked, thoroughly confused. “He doesn’t work here.”

“Not here, you idiot”, the boy said, lowering his voice so the parents couldn’t hear their conversation. “In the village, I mean.”

“Oh”, Inojin said. “No, he’s not here right now.”

“Where is he, then?”

Inojin narrowed his eyes. The boy smiled, like he already knew the answer and wanted it confirmed by Inojin.

“You tell me”, Inojin said.

“He’s in the desert village, am I right?”

“The desert village is called Suna”, Inojin snorted.

“I know”, the boy said, bored. “Mum, dad, are you finished already?”

His parents had now moved over to the Monstera plants, and purposely ignored their son’s call. The boy sighed and continued to pick dirt from under his fingernails.

“He should stay there”, he said. “Traitors like them don’t deserve to return.”

Inojin swallowed.

“Shikadai is no traitor! He’s a duel citizen. Do you even know what that means?”

“I know what duel citizen means, and it’s just a fancy word for traitor”, the boy said, smiling.

“What do you want?” Inojin snarled at him. “Came to me just to talk shit about my friend?”

“I just want you to tell your friend _of the Sand_, that I’m not the only one who thinks he can stay away”, the boy muttered, and his parents walked up to the counter. They had the biggest Monstera plant in their hands, and a huge pot for it too.

“This is a nice present, right?” the woman stated, mostly to her son.

“It’s a plant, plants are not nice presents”, he said and Inojin boiled inside. He just wanted to slap the boy’s face to make sure he’d never return to this shop ever again, but he slammed his fingers on the cash register instead, sound loud enough so the whole family would get that he’s angry.

The family quickly paid for their plant and left, but before the annoying boy left Inojin’s eyeshot, he lifted his middle finger and showed it to Inojin.

That nerve!

Inojin didn’t even know the guy, and he had walked inside like he owned the shop and insulted Shikadai straight in Inojin’s face. That nerve! And he even sounded like he believed his own lies, the bullshit about Shikadai being a traitor to Konoha for being a duel citizen between Suna and Konoha.

It was true that Shikadai wasn’t in Konoha this week. He had been in Suna since last week and was due to come home tomorrow. Inojin couldn’t wait. Two weeks had felt so long. Ever since Shikadai became a duel citizen, when the new system was put into execution half a year ago, he also had duties to Suna. Five times a year he was to do missions on Suna’s behalf, two weeks at a time. Ten weeks in total.

When Inojin heard that Shikadai would be absent for a fifth of the entire year, he had felt aghast. Right now, when things between them seemed to take off, Shikadai was snatched right from his hands, into duties of a village 600 kilometres from them. He should be happy for him, and he really was, but he missed him.

He had promised they would meet tomorrow, when he came back. Inojin got butterflies in his stomach when thinking about seeing him again, after two weeks of absence. He made the quick decision to not tell Shikadai about what the stupid boy (who apparently didn’t know that Monstera plants in fact were a great gift) had said about him when he came back.

The flower shop closed at seven, and while Inojin cleaned up inside the shop his mum came inside.

She was dressed in the interrogator garment, that she wore whenever she worked in the T&I department. She worked there part time, a few hours per day, whenever she wasn’t in the flower shop. Inojin knew she had had a tough day, because some kind of prisoner was brought in yesterday, and Ino had been assigned to be in charge for the interrogation.

Inojin expected her to be tired, but he didn’t expect the blood splatter on her cheek and that face of exhaustion.

“Mum?” he asked, when Ino stepped inside. “There’s blood on you.”

“Oh, I forgot”, Ino said, totally devoid of the trademark superficiality that sometimes even defined her as a person. She wiped the dried blood, but only managed to smear it out in even uglier streaks.

“How did it go?” Inojin asked carefully.

“He died”, Ino replied, shutting the subject down. She looked around in the shop, like she was trying to forget about her day. “Did you have any costumers today?”

“A few”, Inojin said, pushing away the words of the annoying boy. “One of our Monsteras got bought.”

“Great”, Ino said. “And you remembered to give them a receipt?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect”, Ino said, and sighed slowly. She stared at the floor, and after she realized Inojin was looking at her she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sorry. I just hate when people die, even if we do everything we can to stop it from happening.”

“What did he do?” Inojin asked.

“Can’t tell you”, Ino said, and gave him a grief-struck smile. “Work ethics.”

“Okay…”

“But, Inojin”, Ino started, “tomorrow we will start to practise a new jutsu. The Mind Body Transmission Technique.”

“Really? Wow!” Inojin almost squealed. He was finally getting to learn the jutsu he dreamt of learning.

“But don’t expect fast improvement”, Ino said, smiling at her gleaming son. “It’s not easy to do. Especially when you’re not facing destruct.”

“What do you mean by ‘facing destruct’? Is it a trauma activated jutsu?”

“No.” Ino’s smile faded. “If you practise hard, you’ll be able to do it by summer.”

“But it’s only January!”

“Like I said, it’s not easy to do”, Ino said. “Come on. Let’s make some tea.”

They went inside and did they very best to forget the day.

Choji looked up from the plate he had emptied. The silence was definitely out of place. Karui was the type to usually blabber her hearts content out, about everything between the sky and earth, and Choji loved listening to her blabbering.

Today she was quiet. She had spent the whole evening cutting out articles from different numbers of the Kumo newspaper she was subscribed to. Choji never read those papers. If he was honest, he wasn’t that interested in news, politics and show scenes from Kumo. Karui, however, kept herself tightly updated to everything from her home village, even if the newspapers arrived two days late in Konoha.

“Honey”, Choji said. “Why are you cutting the papers?”

“I collect”, Karui said, not even looking at Choji.

“What are you collecting?”

“News.”

“What kind of news?”

“About the border problems.” She still didn’t look up from her crafting, placing the floppy pieces of paper in a stack.

Choji waited patiently for his wife to elaborate the issue, and so she did, after a very long time of annoying silence. She frowned at Choji.

“The dual citizen system was supposed to be a success”, she muttered. “Turns out it wasn’t.”

Choji raised his eyebrows in confusion.

“Chocho became a dual citizen four months ago”, he said. “There was no problem, no one questioned us, no one questioned Chocho. It was natural. How can you say it wasn’t a success?”

“You see of course only as far as the end of your own nose”, Karui scoffed. “It was easy for us, because I’m known in Kumo. They know who I am and could easily verify Chocho’s birth right to Kumo. Of course the child of Killer Bee’s old student must get her piece of Kumo, too.” Before Choji could open his mouth Karui continued. “And for Shikadai, who was the first one in the whole world to become a duel citizen, what can I even say? He’s royal. It was never an issue for him or for us.”

“Then why are you so worked up?” Choji had honestly no idea.

“Because this system was built for people like us”, Karui said. “It was built for children who could be easily verified, and all the youngsters without parents with agency are suffering.”

“What do you mean?” Choji asked. “Nobody is really suffering, right?”

“Things are happening in Kumo”, Karui said quietly, like she was ashamed of what she had read in the papers. “Ever since the system was executed in August some civilians, in their twenties, approached the Raikage. At first, there were only about thirty of them. Most of them were civilians of Frost Country, some from Hot Spring Country. The boarder countries of Lightning Country. They claim to be what they call ‘products of war’. They claim that their fathers are Kumo shinobi, who… after the war, after the Infinite Tsukiyomi was released, violated their mothers and they exist as a result of that. Most of the fighting happened in Frost Country, so I’m not surprised.”

Choji stared at her.

“After the first group demanded getting Kumo citizenship, as some kind of compensation for being born into poverty, by single mothers, who don’t, in some cases, love their children, more of these youngsters in their twenties approached. They are now more than a hundred”, Karui said. “They think their right to be trained as shinobi in Kumo was snatched from them before they even had a chance, as they are bastard children, and want a new chance. But the way they present their demands sounds more like a threat.”

“If they’re from Frost Country, why don’t they try to get into shinobi business in Shimo, if it means so much for them?” Choji asked.

“Because they have during all their childhood formed some kind of relationship with Kumo”, Karui sighed. “They are obsessed with the thought of being children of Kumo shinobi and want to get some kind of closure. They go by a slur already; Bastards of Kumo.”

“Then, why doesn’t Kumo take them in, if they’re causing trouble?”

“Everything went pretty smoothly until one of them proudly told the administrator that he knew his father, that the shinobi wore ‘red clothes’ the day his mother met him”, Karui said. “Everyone knows that red uniforms belong to Iwa shinobi. This person was most likely not a bastard child of Kumo, but of Iwa. This made everyone extremely cautious. What if none, or only a small percent of the ones applying for citizenship weren’t children of Kumo, but of Iwa, Konoha, Kiri or Suna? Anyone could father them, really.”

“Karui”, Choji said. “I see that you’re upset. What are you afraid of?”

“This whole situation has escalated in only a few months. No one dares go without their forehead protector anymore out in the streets of Kumo”, Karui said. “There are apparently gangs that interrogate anyone without a headband, asking them where they come from, and if they belong to Kumo or not. One of these Bastards was found dead two weeks ago. Maltreatment.”

There was a haunting pause.

“When we visit Kumo next time, I want Chocho to only wear her Kumo forehead protector”, Karui whispered. “Kumors have a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to dual citizens nowadays. Omoi is very worried.”

“Do you mean some random gang would attack Chocho is they saw her with both forehead protectors visible?” Choji was horrified.

“I don’t know! Maybe”, Karui let out, frustrated. “All I know is that the Kumo citizens are suspicious of everyone with dual citizenship nowadays.”

“Are you sure Omoi isn’t exaggerating?” Choji asked softly.

“I sure hope he does.” Karui bit her bottom lip. ”But the newspaper tells similar stories. The growing hatred, the suspicion.”

“Are you going to tell Chocho?” Choji asked.

“Not yet”, Karui said quickly.

“Well, luckily we don’t live in Kumo”, Choji said, and that was the wrong thing to say. Karui smashed her fist to the table.

“Don’t think Konoha is free from hatred”, she hissed. “This can happen anywhere, and we must do our damn best to make sure it doesn’t happen here. I refuse to see a world where my daughter is seen as a threat because of her birth right to two different villages.”

“It won’t happen, honey”, Choji said gently. “I promise you. It won’t happen. Nothing will happen to our daughter.”

He moved over to sit beside her and put his arm around her. Karui buried her face in Choji’s shoulder, but their snuggle didn’t last long. The phone rang.

They had only had a telephone in their house for a month, when it became possible for private households to get a phone. It was expensive to talk for long, and the signal was for most of the times shaky, but if it meant that Karui could have a better connection to her parents, and not rely on letters that took days to arrive, it was worth it.

Karui jumped up, as most of the phone calls were for her. She lifted the mouthpiece.

“Omoi?” she said, clearly surprised at the coincidence that they had talked about Kumo and Omoi a moment ago, seconds before he called. “How are things?”

She gestured Choji to leave the kitchen, that she wanted to talk in private to her friend. Choji understood, and after throwing one glance at the screaming headlines of the articles left Karui to talk in peace.

The train from Suna was due to arrive early in the morning. Shikadai had promised that he’d go home, shower and leave his bag, and then visit Inojin, and Inojin couldn’t wait for it. He was as impatient as a teenager waiting for his crush to come home from a two-weeks journey usually is, and when he woke up without any other reason than that bubbling nervousness way earlier than he usually does, he decided that, heck, he’s going to the train station to be there when the train arrives.

Shikadai would be so surprised!

Ino and Sai were still asleep when he slid down the stairs.

“Mum”, he whispered to her, and Ino opened one eye.

“What is it, love?” she asked in a drowsy voice.

“I’m going to the train station”, Inojin said. “Shikadai is coming home.”

“Hm”, Ino grunted. “Have fun.”

Inojin put on his shoes and left the house. The bubbling nervousness grew steadily the closer he got to the station. He had missed Shikadai so much and was not looking forward the next time he was going to leave for Suna.

Ugh, being in love was so not easy. Especially when they had to hide their feelings from the rest of the world.

He walked inside the station, to the correct platform, only to get a big clod in his chest.

Temari was already there, waiting for the train. Inojin swallowed his disappointment. Firstly, now he couldn’t be the way he wanted to be around Shikadai, now that when she was there. Secondly, it was pretty out of place for Temari to fetch him from the train station. Shikadai was used to independence, and his parents gave him room to be independent.

Something had happened, Inojin was sure.

“Hey”, he said a little bit too uptight when he came closer. Temari’s head shot up and she raised an eyebrow.

“Good morning”, she said. “You came to greet Shikadai?”

“Yeah”, Inojin said, flustered, and if Temari had been unsuspecting in regards of their relationship before, then she would be very oblivious to not start suspecting anything now. It was not even seven in the morning, and Inojin had no reason, no obligations, to come to the train station.

“Hm”, she said. “Sorry to disappoint you, but he can’t hang out with you just yet.”

“Why?” Inojin asked.

“Something happened”, Temari said. “Shikadai can tell you himself later – oh, there’s the train!”

The train rolled slowly into the platform, steam blowing out of the engine. There were not too many passengers getting off, and Shikadai emerged from the train. He lit up at the sight of Inojin, but quickly grew worried at the sight of his mother.

“Hi, sweetie”, Temari said. “How is your hand?”

Inojin noticed the bandage around Shikadai’s hand. Was he injured?

“Meh, it’s okay”, Shikadai said, eyeing his mother worriedly. “Is - is something wrong?”

Temari pinched her lips together, glancing at Inojin.

“I tell you when we get home”, she said. “I’ll wait outside.” She walked quickly away, leaving the two boys alone.

“You didn’t have to come to the station”, Shikadai said, smiling at Inojin.

“I woke up, and couldn’t get back to sleep”, Inojin said. He wanted to run his hands through Shikadai’s hair but didn’t dare in case Temari would see them. “What happened to your hand?”

“I got stung by a scorpion”, Shikadai admitted. Inojin noticed that he had gotten ridiculously tanned during his mission in the desert, and his voice had darkened in the last two weeks. Damn him, and his rapid puberty voice change, Inojin thought. Inojin still sounded like a child.

“You got what? Did it hurt?”

“A bit, yes”, Shikadai said. “But it wasn’t lethal venom. I was lucky.” There was a pause. Shikadai briefly took Inojin’s hands, carefully, so no one would notice. “Look, I’m sorry. I need to go. Need to see what’s wrong.”

“I know”, Inojin said. “You can call me later today. If… if you want to hang out.”

“I’ll call you”, Shikadai said, and, when he was sure no one saw them, kissed Inojin on the cheek. He turned around and ran after his mother, with his fan bouncing on his back and the bag hung over one shoulder.

Inojin felt the place Shikadai had kissed with his fingers. It was slightly moist, and bright, bright red from Inojin’s blush.

A knot whirled around in Inojin’s stomach, fighting the butterflies and slowly killing them. What had happened, that was so urgent that Temari snatched Shikadai straight from the train?

Inojin walked home again, disappointed and worried, just in time for his parents to wake up.


	2. Confessions

“Her heart is failing”, Shikamaru said, voice heavy and hoarse. “She has been brought back to life twice this week already. She… your grandmother will die any day now.”

Shikadai dropped his iron fan with a force that brought a crack in the wooden floorboard of living room in the Nara household.

“Shikadai!” Temari started but managed to bite her temper back.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Shikadai asked, angrily. “She could’ve died while I was gone!”

“You were on a mission, in a wasteland”, Shikamaru said tiredly, not having his son’s shit right now. “It wouldn’t been fair to burden you with that knowledge. You got already stung by a scorpion.”

“But that was because I was stupid. Grandma could’ve died while I was away”, Shikadai snarled. “Where is she now? Can we see her?”

“She’s in the hospital”, Shikamaru said. “Let’s get there immediately.”

Shikadai still couldn’t process what had been told to him. Nara Yoshino, his grandmother, was dying, had been dying for a week, and he had had no idea. While he and Shinki were out on a mission, laughing and calling him an idiot for being careless around a scorpion nest, his grandmother’s heart had stopped twice.

He felt like even a bigger idiot for taking his grandmother for granted than one triggering a scorpion.

Yoshino had always been there. Always been there, living next to them. At times, when he was younger, he had often stayed over at his grandma, if Temari was out on long missions and Shikamaru couldn’t put off the paperwork. She would tell him stories of his grandfather, who had died in the war. But as he grew older, his need to be babysat disappeared. If he needed company, he went to Mirai instead to play with her. Grandma became this more distant figure in his life.

And now she was about to leave them any moment.

The hospital smelled sterile and unwelcoming. The white walls, grey floor and all nurses hurrying around felt like a different world to Shikadai. He had for the past weeks been sleeping in a sleeping bag that for every night became filled with more and more sand no matter how much he tried to get it out, and sometimes even been forced to drink dirty water when their own water reserves were used up too quickly. The sterility of the hospital was like another dimension.

“She’s here”, Shikamaru said quietly outside a room. He opened slowly the door. “Mum? It’s me. Shikadai has come home now.”

Yoshino was a strong woman, skilled in taijutsu, even if she never reached jonin rank. She had been everything she wasn’t right now. Her grey hair laid thinly on her scalp, and she seemed much smaller than ever before.

The machine following her heartbeats beeped regularly, and nothing seemed wrong.

“Hi”, Shikadai said. “I’m back.”

“How’s your hand?” Yoshino asked, and took his hand into her own, wrinkly, and weak one. “I heard you got stung by a scorpion.”

“It’s nothing, grandma”, Shikadai said. Yoshino was on her deathbed and seemed more worried about his stung hand, than about herself. “How – how are you?”

“I’ve been better”, Yoshino exhaled. “It hurts in my chest.”

“Do you need more painkillers?” Shikamaru asked. “I can bring a doctor –“

“No”, Yoshino said. “I said it hurts, not that I can’t bear the pain.”

“But, mum – “

“Let me die with dignity”, Yoshino mutters. “Would be a weak death to die in a soft bed without feeling anything. I’d love to feel that I still have a heart, though one that fails at its only job.”

“Mum, please –“

“Soon I’ll join your father”, Yoshino told Shikamaru. “Oh, how I’ve missed him.”

Shikamaru turned around and wiped his eyes.

“I will tell him that he would’ve been so, so proud of you”, Yoshino said. “But I’m sure he already knows that. He was always proud of you.” There was a silence, and Shikamaru crouched by her bedside. Yoshino looked up at Temari and Shikadai. “Could I please get moment with him alone? I don’t think this pathetic muscle can hold up much longer, and I’ll whip you if you bring me back to life me one more time.”

Temari grabbed Shikadai by his arm and they went outside. Shikamaru took Yoshino’s weak hand and squeezed it gently.

“I’m here, mum”, he said silently.

“I’ve dreamt of Shikaku every night since I was taken here”, Yoshino said, not looking at her son. “In the dreams, he’s always been here. He never died. He cried at your wedding. He played and trained with Shikadai and watched him grow up. He cherished Mirai, too.”

“Mum, stop”, Shikamaru said. “You’re making me cry.”

“Good”, Yoshino said and smiled. “I’m good at making Nara men cry.”

Shikamaru broke out in a desperate laugh.

“Sounds like you”, he said, and caressed her hand. He waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t, he swallowed. “I used to be scared that I wasn’t living up to his expectations. But maybe you’re right. He would’ve loved Temari, and absolutely adored Shikadai.”

“Shikamaru”, Yoshino said. “Speaking of Shikadai… there’s one thing I must tell you… before I go.” Shikamaru clutched her hand even harder. He swallowed.

“Yes, mum.”

“I want to tell you this before anyone else does so”, Yoshino mutters. “I had a lot of free time before, and I spent a lot of time drinking tea with other Naras. Kiki for example.” She paused, breathed slowly. “Kiki is the spider in the Nara web. She knows every gossip and tattle there is to know in our clan. She was the one who told you about me getting sick, after all.”

“Yes, and I really wished you would’ve told me yourself that you had ache in your chest”, Shikamaru said, “and not just casually telling Kiki that over a cup of tea.”

“Anyways”, Yoshino continued. “She told me the other ones are worried about Shikadai’s future.”

Shikamaru frowned.

“What makes them worried?”

“They wonder how serious he is about the clan’s future”, Yoshino said. “Ever since he became a dual citizen, they’ve been worried he isn’t going to be a suitable clan leader, when the time comes for him to be it. He is going to spend a lot of time in Suna, over the upcoming years, if not his whole life.”

“They think he is going to be the Kazekage”, Shikamaru realized.

“They suspect he might have a greater claim at the Kazekage seat, now that he has that opportunity again”, Yoshino confirmed. “And they don’t want that. Ensui has even talked about having his son Fukui claiming the upcoming head of clan position, after you.”

“That’s bullshit”, Shikamaru said. “Shikadai is going to become the next clan head.”

“Is he?” Yoshino asked. “Have you asked him?”

“There’s nothing to discuss”, Shikamaru said, though he didn’t sound as certain as he wanted. “Shinki, Gaara’s son, is going to become the next Kazekage, and it has been decided already. I’ll talk to Ensui myself.”

Yoshino smiled, looking up at the ceiling.

“That’s what you get for marrying Suna’s princess”, she said. “But Shikadai likes Suna, doesn’t he? Is he ready to give up what he’s just gotten, just to become a clan leader? As a clan leader one is pretty much stuck here in Konoha.”

“Mum, this is ridiculous”, Shikamaru said. “You’re dying, for heaven’s sake, and we’re not having this discussion now.”

“When are we going to have it?” she asked. “I’m dying, there’s no other time.”

“Please”, Shikamaru pleaded. “I’ll talk to the clan and to Shikadai about this. You should rest.”

“I will rest for an eternity after this, let me have my moment”, Yoshino snorted. “I’ve all these months defended you and Shikadai to Kiki, trying to put you in a positive light so she’d gossip positively about you two to the rest. Enough of that crap. Shikamaru… I’m so proud of you.” She winced and inhaled sharply. “Ouch, my chest. My hands just went numb. I guess this is it.”

“Mum, no”, Shikamaru said.

“Bring in Shikadai and Temari”, Yoshino demanded, and Shikamaru leapt to the door. Shikadai and Temari hurried inside and gathered around her bed. “Hi, you two. Please, Shikadai, come closer.”

Shikadai leaned over her, and Yoshino whispered into his ear.

“I’m proud of you, whatever you choose to do. Choose Konoha, or choose Suna, or choose both. We’ll love you no matter what.”

Shikadai squeezed her arm, tears filling his eyes.

“Are you really leaving, grandma?” he asked.

“Yes”, Yoshino said, and the machine let them all know her heartrate was dropping. “Third time’s the charm.” She looked up at Temari and smiled heart-warmingly. “Thank you for coming into our family. You’ve been the best daughter-in-law.”

Temari forced a smile at the woman who’d been the closest thing to a mother she ever had in her whole life.

“Thank you”, she just said. She had a hard time gasping this… peace surrounding Yoshino’s incoming death. All death Temari had all her life seen was brutal deaths. Lots of blood, lots of screaming, not… this. Not lying in a bed surrounded by the ones who were the most loved of all.

Yoshino’s heartrate dropped fatally in the matter of a few minutes, and she closed her eyes.

“I’m getting a doctor”, Shikamaru said, but Temari forced him to sit.

“Don’t go”, Yoshino mumbled. “Are you holding still my hand?”

“Yes, mum”, Shikamaru said, bringing her hand up to his mouth, kissing her knuckles.

“Good”, Yoshino said. “Because I can’t feel anything.” She exhaled slowly. “Shikamaru?”

“Yes?”

“I love you, little fawn.”

Then she died.

_Little fawn._

Yoshino hadn’t called Shikamaru for her little fawn since… since he was genin age. Shikamaru remembered vividly the last, the final time, she called him her little fawn. He was about twelve years old, not even a chunin, and Yoshino had casually called out to him over her shoulder.

“Little fawn, come here!”

And Shikamaru had thrown the biggest tantrum he ever had thrown when being a preteen. He, who never argued – only whined, never made a fuss out of things because it was too troublesome, and just _dealt_ with the shit around him, yelled that he was _not_ some little fawn and that his mother was so _troublesome_ for even calling him that, so _stop calling me your little fawn because I’m not!_

After that time, Yoshino had never called Shikamaru, her only son, for her little fawn anymore.

And now she was gone.

Shikamaru pressed her lame hand against his forehead and cried.

After the first chock was over and Shikamaru had dried his tears he had instantly gone into planning mode. They needed a gravestone, and a cremation, and other funeral arrangements. One of Yoshino’s last wishes was to have her ashes scattered in the Nara forest, where she belonged.

Shikamaru sat later that day on the porch, smoking restlessly.

“I’m going into the forest”, he announced after finishing his smoke. “I’m going to look for a place where we can scatter her ashes. Like she wanted. I want to do it alone.”

“You sure you manage?” Temari asked, caressing his arm. He nodded, and stepped down on the grass, and walked into the forest, with his hands down in his pockets.

Temari turned around to see Shikadai behind her.

“And you? How do you feel?” she asked.

“I don’t know”, Shikadai said. “I’m sad, of course. But mostly empty. It doesn’t feel real, if you know what I mean.”

“I know”, Temari said. “She was a great woman.”

“Yeah.”

“If you still want, you can hang out with Inojin now”, Temari said. “He… really wanted to see you. Talk about dedication, coming to the train station at 6:30 to see you.”

Shikadai hid his face to not show his mum how red his cheeks got.

“Yeah, we had plans”, he quickly said. “Well, eh, yeah. I still want to see him.”

_This is so obvious, so obvious, I don’t know how to tell them_, Shikadai thought while walking down the roads of Konoha into the area where the Yamanaka family lived. _How long can we keep this a secret?_

“Hi”, Inojin greeted him when he opened the door for Shikadai. “Is everything okay?”

“Well…” Shikadai sighed. “My grandma died this morning.”

“Oh”, Inojin said. “Oh shit. I’m so sorry. Do you… do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know”, Shikadai said. “She had been really sick while I was gone. I didn’t get time to prepare myself. So, I don’t know. I don’t have to.”

“Okay”, Inojin said. “Well… how on earth did you let a scorpion sting you?”

“Well, it’s actually a funny story”, Shikadai said, while they entered Inojin’s room. “Let me tell you all about our mission.”

They talked and played videogames until late evening. The sun set and darkness covered the village around them. Inojin laid in Shikadai’s lap while holding up the game console, letting Shikadai rest his chin on the crown of his head.

The huge elephant in the room was still there.

“Your mum suspects something, I think”, Inojin said after a while. “When I got to the train station… I was so stupid! I didn’t think she’s be there, you see.”

Shikadai stayed silent and wrapped his arms around Inojin from behind.

“I think so, too”, he said.

They hadn’t done that much. One could almost say they were just friends. Just friends, who… sometimes kissed. On the mouth. Friends, who hugged. More than friends usually hug. Friends, who lay in each other’s laps.

But they hadn’t done anything more than that. When they slept over, they always slept with both their upper and lower bodies covered. They slept in the same bed, but never touched the other one beyond arms, neck and face. And god forbid if they happened to get that darn boner while cuddling (which after the first nervousness around cuddling eased happened more often that they liked to admit).

They had never called each other for “boyfriend”.

It was too scary. Too much of a commitment. They were just fourteen, and not even sure what a romantic relationship was. They just knew they had feelings for one another, and an urge to just be with the other. And the urge to kiss.

But they were boys. And boys were not supposed to behave like this.

“It’s going to be a drag to tell everyone”, Shikadai mumbled. “I don’t know what they’re going to say.”

“You don’t say”, Inojin sighed.

“Mirai knows, though”, Shikadai said. “And she said it was okay. Like… she doesn’t think we’re freaks.”

“But we aren’t freaks”, Inojin said. “We’re just weird, I think.”

“Yeah you’re right.”

“Can I kiss you?”

“You can always kiss me.”

A few hot minutes later Shikadai withdrew, feeling high of Inojin’s lips on his own.

“I really have to go”, he said. “It’s already dark outside.”

“And here I thought Naras weren’t afraid of the dark”, Inojin teased.

“My mum is going to strike me, you know”, Shikadai said. “And now that dad’s so sad over grandma. I mean, it was his mum. So, I think they want me home.”

He gave his goodbyes, and walked out in the dark, leaving Inojin in the hall.

“Your hair is messy”, Ino said behind him. Inojin run his hands through his loose hair.

“I know”, he just responded. “Good night, mum.”

“Inojin”, Ino said. “You can talk to me, you know.”

“Yeah, I know”, Inojin said, already walking up the stairs to his room. “And there’s nothing to talk about!”

“Not even about Shikadai?” Ino asked, and Inojin froze midstep. He turned slowly around; all colours gone from his face.

“What about him?”

“You two… you’re more than friends, right?”

“No”, Inojin lied and continued to walk up. “There’s nothing going on!”

Ino followed him into his room. Inojin sat down on the bed, mouth in a frown.

“Mum, leave me alone.”

“Inojin, I want you to be honest with me”, Ino tried, and sat by his side. Inojin slouched into a little pile of pathetic cornered teenager. “I promise I won’t get angry.”

“But you gossip!” Inojin exclaimed. “And next time some of your old classmates is coming into the shop you’re going to go all: ‘Everyone, listen up, Inojin likes boys! Do I need to say it louder for the people in the back? Inojin is not normal, he’s a freak!’”

“Hey”, Ino interrupted, clearly hurt by Inojin’s impression of her. “I would never do that.”

“Yes, you would”, Inojin muttered, fidgeting with his sleeves. When Ino didn’t say anything, only waited patiently, he broke out in a deep sigh. “I know. I’m not normal.”

“Inojin, sweetie”, Ino said. “That’s not true.”

“But it is”, Inojin said, looking down on his hands. “I like Shikadai. And he likes me. And we… we kiss.”

Ino just looked at him. Really looked. From the stray strands of blonde hair in his forehead, to his pale, blue eyes, to his little pointy chin.

“How long have this been going on?” she gently asked.

“Since the summer”, Inojin mumbled.

“That’s a long time to keep a secret.”

“Please don’t tell Shikadai’s parents”, Inojin said. “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Not even your dad?” Ino asked.

“Well… dad is dad”, Inojin said. “He doesn’t care about such things.”

“He does care.”

“Yeah, but he… I don’t think he gets it”, Inojin said.

“I can get him to understand”, Ino said. “Inojin. I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide important stuff like this from me.”

“Mum”, Inojin said. “Be honest with me. Do you think I’m a freak? For… liking Shikadai? And for kissing him?”

Ino smiled to him.

“This doesn’t come as a surprise for me”, she said. “I’ve known for quite some time. I know what a person in love looks like. So, I’ve come to terms with this. You’re still young. It’s okay.”

“But you still think I’m a freak?”

“No.” Ino pulled him closer. “I know a thing or two about minds, you know, my love. You’re not a freak.”

“Okay”, Inojin said. “Can you now leave me alone?”

Ino left Inojin, feeling relieved that she finally got the truth out of him. She had known for weeks before Shikadai left for Suna about their little affair, but she hadn’t had the courage to confront him before now.

Inojin had asked her to not tell Shikadai’s parents, but Ino had already talked to Temari about this before. And Ino wasn’t well with keeping secrets.

“Did you find a nice spot?” Temari asked Shikamaru after they had put out the lights. They laid in bed, snuggling close to each other. “For the ashes.”

“Mm”, Shikamaru mumbled into her hair. “The other side of the river. The sun sets nicely over the field, where the deer usually eat. She can now watch over them whenever she wants.”

He put his arm over Temari’s chest, preparing himself to fall asleep. Temari played around with his hair, staring into the darkness above them

“Ino talked to me a while ago”, Temari started.

“What did Ino tell you?” Shikamaru asked, drowsy and ready to sleep.

“Shikadai is in love with Inojin”, Temari plainly said and after a few seconds of processing her words Shikamaru jerked out of his comfortable position.

“What?”

“Inojin had told Ino today”, Temari said. “But it was somewhat obvious even without a confession. They are hanging out almost every day, just the two of them.”

“I hung out with Choji, just the two of us, all the time”, Shikamaru said.

“Would you have come to the train station 6:30 in the morning to welcome him back?” Temari pressed on. “Because Inojin came there just after I arrived.”

“Well – “

“You saw me off early in the morning back in the days, even though you hated waking up, because you liked me”, Temari continued. “Would you go to see Choji the same day your grandmother died?”

“I don’t know. Maybe”, Shikamaru said. “If we hadn’t seen each other in two weeks, then maybe I would.”

“You’re really dense when it comes to romance, aren’t you”, Temari snorted. “Shikadai hasn’t been completely honest when telling us what he and Inojin do when they’re alone.”

“Well, if it’s true, then the clan mustn’t know”, Shikamaru muttered. “I won’t give them another reason to challenge Shikadai’s position in the clan.”

Temari stayed silent, before reaching for the bed light, switching it on.

“Who is challenging Shikadai’s position?” she asked and stared into Shikamaru’s soul with piercing eyes.

“Some members of our clan”, he said. “Before mum passed away, she told me about gossip that Kiki had told her –“

“Kiki’s talking shit all the time”, Temari snorted. “That’s why I always pretend that I don’t see her if I spot her outside. She’s a nuisance, that woman.”

“Ensui wants his son to become the next clan head after me”, Shikamaru continued.

“And why isn’t Shikadai suitable, huh?” Temari asked.

“Because he is a duel citizen”, Shikamaru mumbled, barely audible.

“Huh? Speak up, man, so I can hear you”, Temari said, and Shikamaru gave her a gaze of annoyance. He knew she had heard him perfectly well.

“They fear that he might spend so much time in Suna, that being a clan head is not going to work”, Shikamaru said. “And they fear Shikadai will want to be Kazekage instead, now that he has that possibility.”

“Fuck Ensui”, Temari said. “If Shikadai doesn’t want to be clan head, then it’s up for discussion. But as long as he’s next in line, no one threatens him.”

“What if he doesn’t want to have an heir?” Shikamaru mumbled. “If he is… you know… not into girls.”

“Gaara doesn't have a wife, and he got a child anyway”, Temari said. “Stop thinking about every threat. I’ll talk to Ensui myself and put an end to this shit talking.”

“No, please, don’t”, Shikamaru hurried to say. “We don’t want him dead, right? I’ll talk to him.”

“Fine.”

“But… what are we going to do about Shikadai? Are we going to just ask him?

“I can talk to him later about it”, Temari offered. “Because you’d probably mess it up.”

“Shut up, woman, I can talk about sensitive stuff, too”, Shikamaru murmured beside her. “But fine. This is your treat. But don’t mention this to anyone. This is a secret.”

“Fine”, Temari said.

The lights went off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Protect your awkward little boys trying to form a "forbidden" relationship.
> 
> I HC that Yoshino is totally a Lady Olenna (from GoT) or Violet Crawley (Downtown Abbey) aka Queen of Wit.
> 
> And I know I'm biased towards the Naras, but next chapter will contain more Cho-power, and then we're off to an adventure.


	3. The Mission

“We’re getting a mission, a mission, you guys!” Chocho chattered untiredly all the way to the Hokage’s building. “Please, let it be a B-rank one, I’m ready to kick some ass!”

“You literally just became chunin”, Shikadai said, hands deep in pockets. “They’re not going to give us a B-rank mission with two out of three being chunin, and the third one being still a genin.”

“Thanks for rubbing salt in my wounds”, Inojin muttered, earning a glare from Shikadai.

Inojin had still not managed to become chunin in the last exam. The whole of Team 7 and Chocho became chunin this time around, and Inojin was ashamed of still not making the cut.

He had practised and prepared, but when he got the worst possible opponent to use his Scroll Beasts on, he decided to turn to the other jutsu he knew. It had been a poor decision; his Mind Transfer had been an utter failure. He had managed to possess his opponent, but his link had been too weak. The opponent broke out of the possession and before Inojin got up from the ground, the opponent had thrown a rock right between his eyes, below his forehead protector.

The knock of the rock had been so impactful that the nasal bones broke and Inojin hadn’t managed to get up after that. Maybe it was for the better, because the pain had been so great that he had cried and thrown up at the same time, and he couldn’t even see straight.

The humiliation of publicly losing by having a stone thrown in his face was more than Inojin could take, and when his bones had been fixed by his mum when he got home, he had cried even more.

“Next time you’ll become chunin, I’m sure”, Chocho said. “And then we’ll all go on super dangerous missions, S-rank ones!”

“They don’t send chunin on S-rank missions”, Shikadai said. “Those are for the best jonin out there.”

“You know what, Shikadai, sometimes you’re such a party pooper”, Chocho pouted at him. “Aren’t you happy we’re together again? I almost started to feel like you were cheating on us when being away in Suna.”

“I’m not cheating, I’m doing my job”, Shikadai said defensively. “Besides, aren’t you going to Kumo any time soon? You’ve not been a single time on a mission on their behalf yet.”

“I’ve got my first one the last week of March”, Chocho explained. “It’s been decided already. And you, when are you heading back to Suna?”

“First week in April”, Shikadai told her.

“Good for you”, Inojin said, but he didn’t mean it. If Chocho left the last week in March, and Shikadai left the first week in April, that meant that Inojin didn’t have a team for a week, leaving him unemployed or added as a fourth wheel to another team, and he hated that feeling of uselessness and he felt guilt for feeling that, because he should be happy for them.

Shikadai shot him a questioning glance, but Chocho didn’t seem to notice Inojin’s sarcasm.

“Yeah, isn’t it?” she said blissfully. “I’m so excited for March, you have no idea!”

They walked up the stairs to the Hokage’s office, and Shikadai noticed how Inojin dragged his feet, walking slower and slower. Irritation rose within him. Why was Inojin so passive aggressive today?

“What is it?” he snapped at Inojin.

“Oh, am I too slow for you?” Inojin snapped back. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Team leader.”

“Stop it”, Shikadai said. “What is your problem today?”

Inojin fell silent. He crossed his arms and just stared at them, like his angry stare could do the talking for him.

“Did I say something wrong?” Chocho asked carefully.

“No”, Inojin said.

“Then why are you sulking?” Shikadai asked. “We’re about to get a mission, what is your problem?”

“You”, Inojin blurted out.

“Me?” Shikadai asked, with rising anger and confusion. “What is wrong with me, then?”

“Not only you”, Inojin pouted. “You both.”

They both stared at their teammate, who had started paying attention to his shoes.

“Inojin”, Chocho said. “Are you envious of us?”

Inojin didn’t respond, only intensified his staring at his feet.

“What if I am?” he then retorted. Shikadai walked up beside him and threw an arm over his neck. Inojin didn’t pull away but looked anxiously up at Chocho and her reaction. Luckily, she didn’t question Shikadai’s action, only smiled.

“Talk to me”, Shikadai said.

“Just you two becoming chunin just like that, while I only make a fool out of myself”, Inojin said, wildly gesturing. “I was so humiliated at the last exams. Defeated by a rock! Moegi was so disappointed. Not to talk about my mum.”

“Moegi wasn’t disappointed”, Shikadai said.

“Yes, she was!” Inojin blurted out. “Everyone looks at me like I’m the nobody genin while you two – you are duel citizens and get to do all kinds of supercool missions in the wilderness, facing real danger, while I – I just work in a flower shop! I’m a pathetic excuse of a ninja. Mum probably wishes I had a brother or sister so she wouldn’t have to worry about my career all the time.” His mind started racing, thinking of everything there is wrong with him. “I’m such a useless heir to the Yamanaka clan, not only because of that, but because I’m also hom –”

“I would love to work in your flower shop!” Chocho interrupted him, not noticing how pale Shikadai became at Inojin’s almost confession. “It’s not lame, it’s cool. And maybe you one day become an interrogator, that would be so cool.”

“Inojin”, Shikadai quickly said. “Please don’t be envious. You will become chunin, too. You’re not pathetic. You’re a very important member of our team, and besides…” He lowered his voice, hoping that Chocho’s incredibly dense obliviousness would keep up. “You’re very important to me, and I don’t want you to be envious or sad. Please, Inojin, trust in me.”

“Yes, Inojin, we’d never manage without you”, Chocho filled in. “Aren’t you happy that we now have a mission together? March is in an eternity anyways. Let’s have fun now.”

Someone came in around the corner and Shikadai let immediately Inojin go from his gentle hug.

“Yeah, come on”, he said, covering his voice in laziness. “Let’s find out what this mission is about.”

They entered the Hokage’s office. Naruto sat behind his desk and Shikamaru stood with his back against them, looking at some papers at a table next to the Hokage’s desk.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the better version of Team 10”, Naruto greeted them and Shikamaru looked up from his paper works.

“Hey”, he said, with pretend hurt.

“Just kidding”, Naruto laughed. “Welcome, you three. Are you ready for your first B-rank mission?”

There were a few moments of silence for the trio to process what Naruto was saying, before Chocho raised her arms in excitement.

“YES!” she shouted, and sharply turned to Shikadai. “I told you, Shikadai! I told you we were going to get a B-rank mission.”

“You didn’t, you just hoped for one”, Shikadai corrected.

“And wishes do come true.” Chocho’s face was but a huge grin. “What is it? Are we going to kick some ass?”

Naruto scratched himself on the top of his head, laughing.

“Not really”, he said. “This is a diplomatic mission.”

Shikadai shot a glance at his father, trying to read his face. Shikamaru stood in his trademark position, hands down his pockets and a relaxed posture. His face revealed absolutely nothing.

A diplomatic mission sounded very odd.

“A diplomatic mission?” Chocho echoed. “How come?”

Who in their right mind would send three fourteen-year-olds on a diplomatic mission, whereas someone more competent could do the same?

“I don’t know if your mother, Chocho, has told you this”, Naruto began. “Kumo is having a… they call it a conference, for dual citizen ninjas, such as yourself. They sent an invitation to you.”

“To me?” Chocho said.

“Yes”, Naruto said, and reached an envelope to Chocho. She accepted it and peered inside. “And we’d like you to attend the conference, on behalf of Konoha. You’ll be Konoha’s representant in this matter. They want to discuss limits, rules and obligation that comes with being a Kumo citizen, but still live in other villages, and maybe you can give them, but also us some significant insights in this matter.”

“And the boys?” Chocho asked and jerked her head in their direction. “They get to come, too?”

“They’re your travel company”, Naruto said. “To help you, if you need help. To give you company, if you feel lonely. We don’t send chunin on missions alone.”

“That makes sense”, Chocho said.

“During this mission, you’ll be the team leader”, Naruto continued, and Chocho squealed out of excitement.

“Did you hear that?” She turned to Shikadai and Inojin, closed fists dashing through the air in every direction. “I’m your team leader! I’ve never been a team leader before. Take that, Shikadai!”

“Congratulations”, Shikadai said dryly, and Inojin muttered something inaudible. “Wait. Is this conference in Kumo?”

“Yes”, Naruto confirmed.

“See, Inojin”, Shikadai said to him, and very – _very_ – quickly brushed Inojin’s hand with his own. “You’re finally getting a mission abroad. We’re going to Lightning Country.”

Inojin smiled shyly to Shikadai, unaware of the calculating gaze of Shikamaru, when he finally studied how the two behaved around each other through a lens of being in love. How come he hadn’t seen the signs before? The way Shikadai looked at Inojin, the way Inojin smiled back at him – those were the signs of affection of a couple in love. How had he not seen those signs?

“Finally”, Inojin said.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, receiving looks from the trio.

“There is, however, an issue”, he said slowly. “The reason why this is a B-rank. Ever since this dual citizen system was executed, the political situation in Kumo has been unsteady when it comes with who gets to be a dual citizen and who doesn’t. I want you all to be careful. Keep your ID:s close to you, if you need to prove your identity. Shikadai, Inojin, make sure you don’t, under any circumstances, get taken for Kumo citizen, or shinobi attaining to become citizens. Be always upfront with your heritage. Keep your forehead protectors in sight, all the time.”

“What do you mean by unsteady political situation?” Chocho quietly asked.

“That’s what the conference is about”, Shikamaru said. “Trying to make sense out of that they expect and want from their dual citizens. Why don’t you read it out loud to us?”

Chocho opened the envelope and drew an invitation, printed on thick, high-quality paper out of it.

“Akimichi Chocho”, she started. “Oh, they even printed my name in a nice font!”

“Read the invitation, Chubs”, Inojin cut her off and Chocho continued.

“You are hereby invited to take part of Kumogakure’s first official dual citizen conference”, Chocho read. “The first day of the conference include a welcoming ceremony. The second day include sightseeing and workshops for the duel citizens and their teammates. The third day include seminars, and the duel citizens will receive special training in preparation for future missions on our village’s behalf. The fourth day conclude the conference. As a duel citizen you and your team will accommodate in our village at our expense, and will be served lunch, supper and dinner daily. Welcome.” Chocho’s eyes sparkled out of joy. “Did – did you hear that? They will serve us lunch, supper and dinner every day, guys! What a treat!”

“What a long conference”, Shikadai pointed out. “Four days, wow. Suna would no way in hell make such a fuss over that.”

“Hey, watch your mouth”, Chocho snapped. “They are being generous because they want to bring together their duel citizens so we can learn and make the political climate better again. And you get to come with me and get served food for free! So, you should be really happy.” She turned to Shikamaru. “How many have been invited?”

“29 shinobi from all over the world, from all great nations and a couple of smaller ones, have gotten an invitation”, he explained. “Your accommodation during your visit will be at Omoi’s in Kumo.”

“At Omoi’s? That’s great”, Chocho said. “When are we leaving? It will take us some time to get to Kumo because the train rails are not finished – “

“Don’t the trains go to Kumo?” Inojin asked.

“No”, Chocho said. “They have to blow through so many mountains to create tunnels for the rails – and the project is taking longer than they expected. The end station to the North is in Hot Spring Country.”

“You will take the train in two days to Hot Spring Country, and from there travel on foot. There’s a lot of snow, so it’ll take you probably two days to get to Lightning Country”, Shikamaru explained. “We have budgeted two nights sleep at inns for you, one in Hot Spring Country, and one in Frost Country, both for your leave and return. Choose the cheapest inns you find. Then you travel by foot from Frost Country to Lightning Country, and to the welcoming ceremony in Kumo.”

“Thank you so much”, Chocho said, and bowed to the Hokage and his assistant. “We’ll take on this mission and the conference with great responsibility.”

Both Shikadai and Inojin bowed the same according to their custom.

Chocho grabbed her teammates and dragged them out of the office.

“YES!” she cried out when they’d left the office down the stairs. “We’re going to Kumo together! I’m so going to show you all the best cafés and restaurants in the town. And we’ll sleep over at Omoi’s! His has a great view over the sunrise from his house. And, oh! We can visit my grandparents, too, if we have time. They make wonderful cinnamon buns. My grannie’s cinnamon buns are the best.”

“Hey, Chocho, maybe you shouldn’t brag about your grandparents like that”, Inojin said. “Shikadai’s grandma died just two days ago.”

“Oh… I didn’t know”, Chocho said.

“It’s okay”, Shikadai said quickly, shooting an irritated glance at Inojin. He really shouldn’t have needed to mention it.

“I’m sorry”, Chocho said.

“I said it’s okay”, Shikadai said. “Cinnamon buns sound great, if we got the time.”

“Well, if you don’t have the time, I’ll visit them myself”, Chocho said. “You can go off snogging in some snowdrift or whatever. I can bring you the buns.”

The boys stopped walking, staring at her.

“What?” Chocho asked.

“We’re _not_ snogging”, Shikadai got out.

“Yes, you are”, Chocho said. “I’ve seen you do it more than twice, you know. So not sneaky for ninjas.”

“What – when?” Inojin asked, voice trembling.

“The first time after my birthday party”, Chocho said, thinking. “And the second time when we went swimming in the great lake. And oh – I also saw you spooning at that one inn we visited when we were out on that stable mission to find the missing horses.”

“You’ve known since your birthday party?” Inojin yelled. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Chocho backtalked. “I was actually a little bit hurt. We’re not supposed to keep secrets from each other, now are we?”

Shikadai looked at Inojin, trying to figure out what to say. They had, ever since they had confessed their feelings to each other, wanted to tell Chocho, but they had never agreed upon how and what they would say, because during the summer when this was all new and scary, they couldn’t just drop a bomb like that.

This led them to postpone their announcement. All of a sudden, weeks and months had passed, and the thought of telling Chocho months later than they originally should have felt even more embarrassing.

“Well…” Shikadai said, giving Inojin a wordless gesture to help him to fill in.

“We… we thought you would think we’re weird”, Inojin said, red as a tomato in the face.

“I don’t think it’s weird”, Chocho said. “Omoi is also gay.” When the boys looked at her in disbelief, she shrugged her shoulders. “He has had relationships with other men. He used to have a partner before, he was nice, but they’re not together anymore. Which is a pity.”

Shikadai knew there were more with same preferences out there, but he had never known of anyone else. Men like that felt like a mythical creature people only spoke about, but never had seen.

Inojin sneaked his hand into Shikadai’s hand. It felt out of place to do so when they were in clear view, but he didn’t care.

“Maybe he can give us some advice”, Inojin whispered. Shikadai squeezed his hand and smiled, that heart-warming smile that made Inojin melt.

“Let’s make sure we’ll get some time to talk to him before we have to go home”, Shikadai said. “But hey, Inojin, aren’t you happy now? We’re going to visit three different countries on this mission! We’ll both see a glacier for the first time.”

“And you’ll get to eat the best food there is”, Chocho filled in.

“First time abroad!” Inojin let out. “Fucking finally!”

“Since when do you curse?” Shikadai asked, trying to hold his laughter inside.

“Since now”, Inojin answered.

The mission seemed to be dope. For Inojin, this mission was a ticket to the world outside Konoha’s territory, to another country. It would be the first time Chocho got to be a team leader and get further experience. It would be Chocho’s first time to have a say in a Kumo matter, something she’d wanted to do since becoming a duel citizen. For Shikadai, it would be a mission where his foremost duty was to be company, which was a relief after the tough desert mission he just came home from.

For Chocho, this mission involved her getting to visit her grandparents, if only briefly, but it still meant a great deal for her to connect to her Kumo heritage. They were going to stay at her godfather’s house, and between the seminars and workshops and meet and greets have a great time.

And for Shikadai and Inojin, this mission would involve getting to know a man who was the same like them. They were anxious, nervous and excited at the same time.

Too bad that the mission would turn into living hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ou-ou. 
> 
> Kumo is really trying to save their situation with duct tape and spackle. 
> 
> The snowball effect has started for our poor kids.


	4. Goodbyes

“I don’t like this”, Karui mumbled over and over again. “I do not like this! Why is Kumo having a conference right now, when there are big demonstrations all over the city?”

“Isn’t this their way to solve this issue?” Choji asked, trying to calm his wife down.

“A couple of months”, Karui said. “A couple of months was all it took for the whole damn country to get polarized. Some just want to get over this whole war bastard issue, others would rather die than see these bastards getting their part of a country that they maybe don’t even have a birth right to.”

Karui read the invitation Chocho had left on the dinner table. She had already read it multiple times, but she couldn’t tear her eyes off it.

“God, they use such fancy words to describe this conference”, she muttered and let the invitation fall down onto the table again. “If you read between the lines you notice immediately that this is a conference to validate the invited shinobi. They’re chosen as competent for performing missions of Kumo’s behalf. They’re going to have a great time, eat sweets, discussing their future as dual citizens, getting to know other shinobi in Chocho’s situation – “

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Don’t you realize how triggering a conference like this is, for the ones left outside?” Karui snapped. “What if the Bastards of Kumo attack the conference?”

“The Raikage would never allow such nonsense”, Choji said, and he was sure of his own words.

“I know he wouldn’t”, Karui said. “But… I’m still worried.”

“Don’t be”, Choji said. “And she’s not alone. She has Inojin and Shikadai with her, and Omoi is there, too.”

Karui bit on her nail, thinking. She had no real reason to be afraid, because sure the Raikage had thought of the risks. This conference was not supposed to be the epicentre of the political mess, it was a conference for all the new dual citizens, so they’d get their teams for when they have missions, have some workshops together, and have fun.

This mission was supposed to be a jump-start of Chocho’s career in Kumo. A time to network with other in her situation. A chance.

Chocho came out of the shower, whipping her still wet hair, staining furniture with waterdrops.

“Hey, put my invitation back in the envelope”, she commanded when entering the kitchen. “It would be such a failure to arrive without the tickets, right?”

“Yes, yes, honey”, Karui said, and packed the invitation back into the envelope. Chocho went into her room to get dressed, and when she didn’t notice, Karui slipped a few out the articles she had cut out of the newspapers into the envelope, before stuffing it into Chocho’s rucksack. When Choji looked at her with a questioning gaze she crossed her arms in a defensive gesture. “For when they get bored on the train.”

Chocho had all her stuff packed and was babbling untiredly of how excited she was for the conference, for getting to know other Kumors living in different villages.

“It’s like the Allied Forces, but a mini version”, she explained to her mum. “And everyone has ties to Kumo. It’s like meeting distant relatives you didn’t even know existed! And we’re going to visit granny and gramps if we have time, but I’m sure we can pay them a visit the last day. And Omoi called yesterday, he said he has put aside lollipops for me. So perfect! This mission is going to be the best!”

“That’s wonderful, honey.”

Suddenly Karui had the urge to hold Chocho’s hand, like when Chocho still was a small, wild toddler ready to explore the world, but too small to understand its great dangers.

But Karui held her instinct back and didn’t reach for her hand.

“Remember to wear it, too”, Temari commanded to Shikadai, after wrapping a thick scarf around his neck. “And if you don’t, and catch a cold, remember that the only one who got you in that situation is yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah”, Shikadai muttered. “I mean, it’s just snow. Just the counterpart of sand. Sand is burning hot, and the snow is freezing cold.”

“It’s a lot colder there than here, though”, Temari said. “It would be a _drag_ to catch a cold, wouldn’t it?”

“Muuuum, stop treating me like a baby”, Shikadai said. “I’m trying to finish my coffee here. I don’t know if they even have coffee up north. Chocho says all they drink is hot chocolate.”

Temari opened a kitchen cabinet and threw a thermos to Shikadai.

“With that you can carry coffee with you if you make it yourself”, she said. “Two-three measurements of grounded coffee in a hot pot, boil and transfer it to the thermos. You can thank me later.”

Shikadai transferred the thermos to an open storage scroll he had on the table. He continued drinking, glancing on the clock on the wall. One hour until he had to leave for the train station.

“And Shikadai?”

Shikadai looked up at his mum.

“If someone talks shit about Suna up there, hit them in the face.”

“Oh my god, mum, I can’t hit people in a conference!” Shikadai yelled.

“I was joking!” Temari laughed from the bottom of her belly.

“Oh, really? Clearly, I didn’t know you were capable of joking”, Shikadai said, highly unamused that he’d fallen for her trick. Temari smiled devilishly at her son.

“I talked with Gaara yesterday”, Temari then said, after a while. “There are two Suna-Kumo citizens attending that same conference. You can maybe become friends.”

“I’ll remember to talk to them”, Shikadai said.

After Shikadai had finished his coffee and packed every item he possibly could need, he double checked his fan, making sure it was clean.

“How are things with Inojin?” Temari asked from behind his back, and he almost dropped the fan.

“Why are you asking?”

“Just because”, Temari said, pretending to not really care. She was, however, not as good at acting as her husband and Shikadai saw through her.

“Things are good”, Shikadai said with suspicion. “I fail to see why they wouldn’t. We’re teammates.”

“Just teammates?”

“Just teammates”, Shikadai repeated, putting his shoes on. “Mum, is there really nothing else you want to talk about? I’m about to leave for another two weeks, and all you ask about Inojin.”

“Because you’re together? As in you like him and he likes you back.”

Shikadai stared at his mother, not knowing what to say.

“Yes”, he finally said. “It’s true.” A quick pause, a realization what he just said rushed over him. “Mum… please, don’t tell dad.”

“He already knows”, Temari said.

“What a drag”, Shikadai sighed. “Mum, I’m sorry – “

“Don’t be sorry”, Temari said. “We’ll talk more when you get home again when your dad is here.”

“Please, don’t be mad”, Shikadai continued, and locked his fan into place on his back. “I know it is weird but – “

“Sweetie”, Temari said, smiling. “You have to leave if you don’t want to miss the train.” She yanked him closer, kissing him on the crown of his head. “I love you. We’ll talk more when you’re back.”

“Uh. Okay”, Shikadai said. “Goodbye, mum. Tell dad I said goodbye to him, too.”

“I’ll send him your regards”, Temari said, watching Shikadai’s back. “Have fun in Kumo!”

Seeing Shikadai with his fan bumping on his back made Temari so proud she could combust.

Inojin had heard his mother’s worried nagging for half an hour now, and he was this close to snapping. Ino had had him fold his clothes twice, because apparently rolling clothes takes less space than just stuffing them down the bag, so he had to take out all of his packing to rearrange it. Sai just stood there, silently watching him, with a smile on his face.

“I’m not a little boy anymore, mum”, Inojin muttered and looked up to his dad. “Help me out, dad. Tell mum she doesn’t have to worry.”

Sai turned to Ino.

“You don’t have to worry”, he said, and Ino pouted with her lips, not satisfied with how easily Sai did whatever Inojin asked of him. Inojin really had him wrapped around his little finger, and that became even more obvious when Inojin grinned at her in win.

“See? Nothing to worry about.”

“Just keep that forehead protector visible”, Ino said and Inojin rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll wear my it so everyone can see that I’m Konohan.”

“Your first time abroad”, Ino said. “Not a lot of flowers up in the North.”

“Apparently the snow is like a metre deep”, Inojin said. “That’s why it takes two days to walk 200 km to Lightning Country through Hot Spring and Frost Country.”

“Inojin, even if you’re there only as company for Chocho, remember to do your best, no matters what comes up ahead”, Ino said.

“If I even can…”, Inojin mumbled, wishing Ino couldn’t hear him. But she did.

“What do you mean?” she asked curiously.

“Because I suck the most”, he continued. Ino stared at him, and later, when she couldn’t figure out the right thing to say, her gaze flickered to Sai, looking for his support. Inojin put on his shoes.

“No”, Ino just said. “No.” Inojin snorted at her.

“Yeah?” he said. “Shikadai and Chocho are chunin and experiencing the world, and I’m stuck. I can’t even win the fight – “

“Rank doesn’t matter, skill does”, Sai cut him off. “Look at our Hokage, he’s never became chunin.”

“Well, for everyone who isn’t a prodigy and jinchuuriki, rank matters”, Inojin muttered. “But of course, you wouldn’t know, because everyone from ROOT are considered chunin by default –“

“Inojin!” Ino rarely raised her voice at him. “We do not speak ill of that.”

“Ino, it’s okay”, Sai said quietly.

“Your father had to do an exam much crueller than the chunin exams, you know”, Ino said strictly. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, Inojin. There’s absolutely nothing to be envious of, and you know that.”

Inojin bit his lip before looking up at Sai. He still smiled, a sad smile, and he didn’t seem angry. Inojin knew he crossed a line when bringing up his father’s past in ROOT, but in the heat of the moment he felt like wanting to hurt his parents for taking his loss like it didn’t matter. His senses, as well as the guilt, caught up to him again.

“I’m sorry”, he mumbled.

“I already said it’s okay”, Sai said.

“I became chunin on my second try”, Ino said. “I was envious of my friends, too. Shikamaru became on his first try and somehow it gutted me because I couldn’t win my preview fight. But I’ve become jonin since that, and I know you can become one, too, if you want to. Are you sure you’ve got everything?”

“You look good”, Sai said, and reached a tiny bottle to Inojin. “More ink. In case you have to fight.”

“He doesn’t have to fight”, Ino cut him off. “It’s a diplomatic mission. He’s going to eat sweets and listen to different speakers for a couple of days.”

“Any mission can turn into a fight”, Sai said, with a raised eyebrow.

“Your old habits die hard”, Ino responded, while Inojin stuffed the ink in his bag.

“Okay, that was the last item”, he said. “I’m leaving now. See you in two weeks.”

He became surrounded by arms, long hair, pale skin and warmth of embracing hugs, and he let himself become small in his parents’ arms. He had never been away for so many days. He had never gone on a mission this far away from home. He didn’t even know if he was going to get homesick or not.

“I love you, my flower boy”, Ino whispered in his hair, before she let him go. They watched Inojin’s body became smaller and smaller until he disappeared in the crowd on the street.

“Do you sense it, too?” Sai asked her quietly.

“What?”

“Sorrow”, Sai said. “Our son is growing up.”

Ino felt a little unsure pinch in her stomach when trying to find her little sunflower in the crowd, like it was the last time she was ever going to see him.

Shikamaru cursed for not being able to tear himself away from the paperwork he had scattered along his desk. All this damn paperwork, every day. What a drag.

Naruto had been on the phone for most of the time talking to the Raikage, about the conference, and planning an eventual follow up conference for dual citizens of all nations, not only those of Kumo.

“Yeah, we could host it”, Naruto carefreely said, and Shikamaru closed his fist. Please no, we do not want to host a huge conference for _all_ dual citizens over the world, because that would make our job even more troublesome. “Sure. We could maybe have a video meeting with all Kages later this week – oh? Okay, after your conference is done, then. In two weeks? Two and a half? Yes, I’ll write it down. I’ll talk to the Kazekage. Yes. Good. Goodbye.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Shikamaru hissed when Naruto put the phone down. “We’re so not having a huge get together for all – there are probably close to three hundred dual citizens out there, in all villages combined. It’s like having a chunin exam with double the participants.”

“If Kumo’s version of this conference for dual citizens turns out to be a success, then I fail to see why we shouldn’t do it”, Naruto said. “The situation in the North is unstable, and I think having conferences like this _is _part of working for peace. We don’t want that madness to spread.”

“You’re right”, Shikamaru muttered.

“We’ll schedule the video meeting tomorrow”, Naruto continued. “I’m heading home. Tonight is Himawari-night.”

“Himawari-night?” Shikamaru echoed.

“One night per week Himawari chooses what we do”, Naruto explained. “Today, she wants to go swimming. So, we’re heading for the lake tonight.”

Hearing about Naruto’s plans with his daughter made Shikamaru a bit jealous. He hadn’t been able to move around his schedule enough to be able to give Shikadai a proper goodbye before he left for Kumo.

Shikadai had just four days prior come home from a two weeks mission in Suna, and now he was gone again for two weeks in the other part of the world. If this kept up, Shikamaru realized, then Ensui’s complaints were going to be legitimate in the long run.

He needed to talk to that man.

Shikamaru had planned to straight up ask Ensui what the hell he’s conspiring, but when he reached up to Ensui’s house he felt unsure about what he was going to tell him. To piss off? Damn it, he couldn’t just attack him straight up. He had to be more tactical.

Ensui opened the door before Shikamaru had time to knock.

“I saw you coming”, he said, and nodded towards the road. “Figured out you wanted to talk.”

They went inside and sat by the dinner table. Shikamaru hadn’t met Ensui in quite some time and was surprised by the changed age done to the man since last time they spoke face to face. Deep, dark circles and wrinkles around his eyes made Ensui look very old, though he was a couple years younger than Shikaku had been. His hair hung pitifully in its ponytail on the top of his head, and most of his hair was grey.

“I heard about Yoshino”, Ensui said. “A strong, wonderful woman, and a great loss for the Nara clan. I’m sorry for your personal loss, though.”

“Hm”, Shikamaru mumbled.

“But I guess you didn’t come to me to discuss funeral arrangements”, Ensui continued, gaze steady at the window. Had he even looked Shikamaru in the eyes a single time during his visit?

“She wants her ashes spread in the forest”, Shikamaru said. “I’m honouring her wishes.”

Now Ensui was looking at Shikamaru. His peered curiously at him.

“Spill it, Shikamaru”, Ensui said. “Why did you come?”

“Yoshino told me some interesting things you had said to Kiki”, Shikamaru began slowly.

“Yes?” Ensui crossed his arms over his chest. “I talk to Kiki about many things. She’s my older sister, you know.”

“Kiki is not known for keeping secrets”, Shikamaru said. “So, you probably wanted me to know this, sooner or later.”

“And what exactly are you referring to?”

Ensui smirked in a way that made Shikamaru want to strangle him. He knew _precisely_ what Shikamaru was referring to.

“About Shikadai not being a suitable heir”, Shikamaru finally spat out.

“Oh, that thing”, Ensui said. “You’re absolutely right. He is not a suitable leader for the Nara clan.”

“And you may want to illustrate why that is so”, Shikamaru said.

“First thing, he has two surnames”, Ensui said. “Nara Shikadai of the Sand doesn’t really ring forest, deer and shadows to you, does it?”

“It does”, Shikamaru cut him off.

“Kiki told me he’s currently better at Wind Style than at the Shadow jutsus”, Ensui continued. His smirk hadn’t still faded.

“And who has told Kiki that?”

Ensui shrugged his shoulders.

“Doesn’t matter who”, he said. “But it seems like it’s true.”

“All he wants is to further improve our clan”, Shikamaru said. “He wants to be good at many things. He is both shadow and wind, and that is completely okay. Our clan tradition can be seen as outdated, too.”

Ensui raised an eyebrow.

“Did I just hear that from your very mouth?” he asked, in honest astonishment. “Does Nara Shikamaru, our clan head, think our own clan tradition is outdated?”

“Yamanaka Inojin uses more jutsus than the traditional Yamanaka ones”, Shikamaru said, now more defensively.

“Ah, the Yamanaka heir”, Ensui said. “Yes, I’ve seen. And that has made him weaker. He knows two different jutsus equally bad, instead on learning one kind of jutsu to perfection to make him strong. I saw him at the chunin exams and thought to myself that Inoichi is probably rolling in his grave. Besides, I heard some interesting rumours about that boy the other day, that might not get approval from some of the elder clan member. I heard Yamanaka Fū was quite displeased.”

“Fucking former ROOT member”, Shikamaru muttered to himself, putting without any second thought all old ROOT members in the same category as Danzo.

“Well, well, are we angry at his old ideology now?” Ensui asked amusingly. “Do I need to remind you that the father of that boy is also a former member of that same branch? Do you talk shit about Ino’s husband behind his back?”

Shikamaru opened his mouth to retort, but he found himself in a dead end.

“Shut your mouth”, Shikamaru then snapped, switching the subject from the Yamanakas to the Akimichis. “And Akimichi Chocho has learned Lightning Style, to accompany her Akimichi jutsu. This is the modern world, Ensui, where kids learn multiple styles, and use them! Our kids are the future.”

“Let’s talk hypothetically here, shall we?” Ensui said, still with the attitude of someone who knows he will win an argument. “One day that Akimichi girl finds someone, marries, gets a kid, and it turns out the child is more proficient in Lightning Style. The child shunts the Akimichi jutsus in favour of the Lightning Style, and boom. Two generations, and all what our clans have worked for will have perished.”

“I can’t believe you’re this dramatic, Ensui”, Shikamaru said dryly.

“And Shikadai?” Ensui continued. “Ten weeks a year in Suna, if not more. The chance of him finding a girl from there is quite big. And when he does, will he drag her here, to our forest, when he himself becomes used to the desert? One more Suna girl to our clan, and it will be doomed.”

Ensui had said “girl”, but the echo of the word “bitch” hung in the air like poison gas.

“Fuck off”, Shikamaru snorted.

“I’m serious”, Ensui said. “His loyalty is not one hundred percent here anymore. He is not a suitable clan head, I’m telling you.”

“The chance of him finding a girl from Konoha is bigger”, Shikamaru said, purposely imagining Shikadai bringing home a _girl._ Someone who can give him an heir, a biological heir, a normal nuclear family. He tightened his closed fist when thinking about what rumours Ensui had heard about Inojin. If they in fact were about his sexual orientation, then sure as hell Shikadai would be exposed soon enough. In that case, Ensui’s claim would increase in legitimation.

“Shikadai is not one of us”, Ensui concluded. “He was maybe becoming one of us, but as the situation is now, he’s straying further away.”

If glares could kill, Ensui would’ve fallen dead on the spot.

“Shut up, Ensui, shut up”, Shikamaru whispered, so furious he barely could speak at all. “How dare you talk about my son like that, like he is – like he is a foreigner?”

“Where is your son now? He can come here and defend his claim himself and not having his father speaking for him”, Ensui pressed on.

“He’s not here to defend himself, this isn’t something that is supposed to be defended!” Shikamaru hissed.

“Where is he?”

“On a mission.”

“In Konoha?”

“No.”

“In Suna?”

“No”, Shikamaru said. “Diplomatic mission in Kumo, if you must know.”

“Hmm”, Ensui huffed. “For the Akimichi girl?”

Shikamaru fixed his eyes on Ensui. This man knew what was going on but was acting stupid on purpose.

“I just want you, Shikamaru, to know that I appreciated and honoured your father greatly”, Ensui said. “I salute even you. But I won’t see our clan be led by someone who won’t dedicate his whole Konohan heart to our clan.”

“You might be dead before that day comes”, Shikamaru said dryly.

“Are you threatening me?” Ensui sounded amused.

“I might”, Shikamaru rose from his seat. “Goodbye.”

“One day even you will come to your senses, Shikamaru”, Ensui said, as Shikamaru made his leave. “You’ll soon realize your son won’t stay here as a clan head after you. In fact, I think this is a good time to re-evaluate all of the clans’ heirs. The Akimichi heir is also a dual citizen. That Yamanaka heir might have a forbidden taste. Maybe it’s time for a rebirth for the Ino-Shika-Cho-formation. I’m not alone with my thoughts.”

Shikamaru stormed out of Ensui’s house without another word, only to run into his son, Fukui. Fukui was in his twenties, with a baby girl himself, so he had an heir already fixed for him. Fukui was good at the shadow jutsus, socially skilled and a person who everyone loves after their first meeting with him.

“Shikamaru”, Fukui said and bowed lightly. Shikamaru only huffed back and scurried away.

Did Ensui seriously just propose to disinherit _all_ of the children, to change the head families in the clans?

Were Ino and Choji aware of this? Were secret plans to overthrow their kids plotted in the shadows amongst their very own clan members? Shikamaru run his hands through his hair. He quickly made the decision to talk to Ino and Choji about this issue after their children return from Kumo, when the youngest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho is present in Konoha to speak their own wishes.

But deep inside a dark cloud twisted around in his stomach.

Shikadai… won’t maybe fall in love with a woman the way the clan expects him to. If Inojin was exposed, Shikadai would become, too. And he might want to live in Suna, sometime in the far future. Ensui had a point. A scary, terrifying point, but a point, nonetheless.

His concerns became confirmed by Temari later that day, when he confronted her.

“Did you talk to him about it?” he asked, snappily and moody.

“Yes, and it’s true”, Temari said, like it wasn’t a big deal. “He’s kind of together with Inojin. I don’t think they’ve figured it out themselves.”

“Don’t they know this game of theirs is influencing two clans?” Shikamaru muttered.

“It’s not a game”, Temari said. “For them it’s real. Very real. And I’ll beat you if you pour your clan drama on Shikadai when he gets back.”

Shikamaru almost opened his mouth to tell Temari the news Ensui had dropped at him but prevented himself the final second. Ensui would not live to tell the tale of his new envisions of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio after Temari had “talked” to him about it. He must wait until he and Ino and Choji had come up with some strong arguments to put on the table.

“You’re not going to accept Shikadai’s choices that easily?” Temari creased her forehead. “Let him have a life where he can make his own damn decisions and decide who he wants to like and where he wants to live. If he wants to be the Nara head, fine. If he doesn’t, let the clan collectively decide what to do. You’re all just like Suna’s council, all those sexistic old fuckers, for fucks’ sake.”

Temari comparing him to Suna’s council was like reality slapping Shikamaru in the face, and he immediately knew he was clearly thinking from the wrong end. He was consumed by the clan’s future, and not his own son’s.

“I just want him to –“ Shikamaru sighed.

“What? What do you want him to be? Normal?” Temari sneered at him, and Shikamaru almost snapped a _yes_ back to her before he caught himself being caught in norms again. He sighed again.

“Happy”, he said. “I want Shikadai to be happy.”

Shikamaru grabbed Temari unexpectedly by her waist and pulled her close. He breathed in her scent and pressed himself hard against her body.

“Sorry”, he whispered. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, of course Shikadai gets to be who he wants to be. I just – the clan feels like an important issue, but you’re right. Shikadai is the most important.”

Temari returned the hug.

“You’re so stupid sometimes, my genius man”, she mumbled in his hair. “Everything is going to be okay.”

“What if things are not going to be okay?” Shikamaru squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to think of a future where the other clan members disown him.

“Then I’ll make things okay”, Temari said. “I’m good at saving Nara boys. And that includes also Shikadai.”

Shikamaru felt satisfied by her answer and later that night fell into a blissful sleep, unaware that they would have to step into action sooner than they thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all collectively hate Ensui, right?


	5. Frost Country

Inojin was out in a hunt for chocolate the restaurant in the last rail car of the train, and Shikadai had fallen asleep, leaning his chin against the window in a very unflattering pose. Chocho tried to wake him up with a bored glare, but Shikadai’s unconscious didn’t react. They had yet two hours left on the train, and with neither of the boys in an either present or conscious state she became incredibly bored.

She opened the envelope to double check her invitation, to check that they had the address and tickets there, and that was when she found two articles cut out of newspapers creased inside the envelope.

Chocho, by this time very confused, spread the articles in her lap, to thoroughly read through them.

By the time she had finished reading Inojin came back to their seats. He had three bars of chocolate in his hands. Inojin didn’t notice Chocho’s concerned face, so he sat by Shikadai and poked one of the chocolate bars in his face.

“Hey”, he whispered tenderly. “Hey. Hey. Wake up, sleepy head.”

Shikadai woke up and snatched the bar from Inojin’s hand.

“You’re such a drag”, he said with a smile. “I can’t believe I like you. What is this?”

“Some chocolate from Hot Spring Country”, Inojin said. “As soon as you reach the North people are getting crazy about chocolate. They had all kinds of bars and biscuits in many different tastes in the restaurant car. They even had chocolate with liquorice in!”

“Liquorice? That black, nasty stuff?” Shikadai asked. “Who in their right mind mix that with chocolate?”

“Well, I could ask the same of you”, Inojin said, and Shikadai raised his eyebrows in confusion. “Who in their right mind gets all moody if they can’t get that black, nasty drink called coffee every morning?”

“Hey!” Shikadai pushed Inojin playfully. “It’s different. It’s – it’s like hot chocolate, but stronger and more bitter and it’s a bit addicting actually…”

“You are addicted”, Inojin said. “There’s a reason mum bought coffee beans to our house, so you can have your morning coffee when you stay over at us.”

“Oh my god, I’m turning into my muuuum!” Shikadai yelled dramatically into his hands.

Inojin broke out in a laugh and casually threw the last chocolate bar to Chocho. She grabbed it without even looking up and placed beside her. Inojin and Shikadai eyed each other to double check that the other one also caught that weird behaviour of Chocho, before they turned and gave full attention to her.

“Are you okay?” Inojin asked.

“Mm”, Chocho answered, reading the article again.

“What are you reading?” Shikadai asked. There was a moment's silence, when Chocho looked up and then returned to the article.

“Have you heard of a group called the Bastards of Kumo?” Chocho’s voice was small, almost a whisper.

“No”, Shikadai said. “Who are they?”

“A terrorist group located in Frost Country”, Chocho answered.

“A what?” Inojin almost yelled. “Terrorist group – what – why?”

“Okay, listen up”, Chocho said. “And don’t yell, Inojin. We don’t want the whole train to hear you, ok? So… Eh… Well… After the last war, the ones our parents fought in… soldiers… used women and babies got made. And these babies grew up in poverty and formed a hateful relationship towards shinobi and Kumo in particular.”

“Why?” Shikadai asked, throat dry.

“These ‘bastards’ if you will call them like that, feel like they deserve compensation for being born out of violence”, Chocho said. “According to the article, Bastards of Kumo are being rejected from The Village Hidden in the Frost, Shimo, in Frost Country, even though most of them are born in that land. They’ve looked for a shinobi life – a life they feel like they deserve – in Kumo, and after some of them became accused of applying for dual citizenship Kumo-Shimo on false grounds, this group turned into committing hate crimes. Shimo doesn’t want to act, Kumo is pressing them, and it… seems like peace is threatened. The number of Bastards of Kumo is estimated to be close over a hundred.”

She fell silent.

“I feel horrible”, she said after a while.

“Guys…” Inojin said. “We’re going to travel right through Frost Country. Is it – is it safe?”

“Of course it’s safe”, Shikadai snorted. “And if someone attacks us, we attack back.”

“I… I don’t think it’s going to be too easy, though”, Chocho mumbled. “The papers say –“

“We walk by the smaller roads, and stay away from people”, Shikadai concluded, leaning back. Chocho glared daggers at him.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself”, Chocho said. “I’m the team leader, and we’ll walk by the main roads. With this much snow it’s easy to get lost in the woods. The main roads are the safest. I’ve been in Frost Country every time we’ve visited Kumo, I know my way.”

“Okay, Miss Team leader”, Shikadai said, munching on the chocolate bar Inojin had bought for him. “This is delicious. Chocho, don’t feel down, eat chocolate.”

Chocho looked down on the chocolate bar she had by her side, but for the first time in her life the instinct to throw herself over food and candy wasn’t present. It was like a fundamental part of herself had gone hiding in deep fear.

“Chocho…” Inojin said. “We’ll be fine. Please, eat.”

He sat back, leaning on Shikadai’s shoulder, and found a scroll he had packed with him. He undid the scroll and started reading. Shikadai glanced on the scroll.

“What are you studying?”

“Nothing”, Inojin said, and hid the scroll from Shikadai’s curious gaze. “Just some clan jutsus I don’t know yet.”

Shikadai snatched the scroll and read it in amusement.

“The Mind Destruction jutsu?” he said. “Is this going to be your finishing move in the next chunin exams? Having them kill themselves – “

“I’m not going to make anyone kill themselves”, Inojin chuckled. “I don’t know, my mum gave this scroll to me before I left, so I thought I could do some studying.”

“How can you study when we’re on a mission? This mission is just for chilling in Kumo and join workshops and stuff.” Shikadai wrapped his arm around Inojin’s neck, pulling him against his chest. “Studying is troublesome. Come on, Inojin. Nap with me.”

“You look like a puppy”, Chocho said, not satisfied at all by Shikadai’s seemingly careless attitude. “Like a puppy hungry for attention.”

Shikadai snorted loudly at Chocho, as Inojin made himself comfy in Shikadai’s lap.

“I guess that’s what I look like”, he said and rolled his eyes.

“Are you going to sleep again?” Chocho asked accusingly. “I’m dying of boredom here.”

“You could nap?” Inojin suggested, totally biased by Shikadai.

“I’ll wake you up sooner or later”, Chocho said. “We can play that drawing game.”

“But Inojin always wins”, Shikadai mumbled, eyes closed and hand in Inojin’s hair.

“And you always win at shogi”, Chocho retorted. “I never win at anything.”

“You should come up with a Chocho-always-wins-game”, Shikadai said. “Your deadline is by when we wake up.”

Chocho kicked Shikadai’s arm in annoyance and swore that she will one day make him swallow his own words.

They found an inn close to the train station in Hot Spring Country, an inn with an onsen connected to the facility. It was maybe not the cheapest inn they could find in the area (“_If we pay a little bit with our own money, then they won’t notice”_, Inojin had said, and the others found the idea of sneaking around the rules arousing, so they all pitched in with coins from their own wallets and got a little fancier room), but to their defence were none of the inns particular cheap.

They couldn’t afford two rooms, so they all crammed into the same room, filling the square metres of the room with their futons. The softness of the futons made the surface under their drawing paper very soft, but they still played the drawing game Chocho had called for earlier. Inojin won after managing to draw “angry ducks chasing headmaster Iruka”, with Chocho guessing on her first try what the picture meant. Shikadai lost with his pathetic painting of “a shark riding a tsunami”.

(“_Who even commissioned this, this is insanity_” Shikadai had muttered after Inojin failed to guess at all what he had drawn. “_You really suck at drawing, Shikadai, you’re even worse than Boruto” _Inojin had said while trying to guess, earning a flirtish tickle from Shikadai).

They even had time for some sightseeing, to Inojin’s big delight. Chocho had been in the city of Yugakure before and could show her teammates around town. They found a ramen shop and ate until they were full.

“This is the best mission I’ve ever been on!” Inojin had rambled happily after they returned to their inn. “I mean, just chilling in a town, and have this luxury. Totally different from those lame D-ranks. Ah.”

“Wait until we get to Kumo”, Chocho added. “We’ll eat the best cinnamon buns and hot chocolate. And – and I’m so excited to meet those other half Kumors. It’s going to be so awesome.”

The trio continued their walk towards Frost Country the following day after a filling breakfast. The roads were filled with snow, but by using the same technique as when walking on water the trio made their way over the border to Frost Country in just less than a day.

And the plunge after leaving wealthy Hot Spring Country to poor Frost Country, oh, what a plunge it was. A negative one.

As if some otherworldly deity had shared the natural resources extremely unevenly was Hot Spring Country filled with tourism and warm springs, great soil to cultivate, culture and wealth, while Frost Country struggled to find enough for their inhabitants to live for.

They walked past countless of abandoned villages, empty houses withering away under the harsh climate of the North. Sometimes they even stumbled upon dead livestock lying in ditches among the main road.

“Is it always like this in these parts?” Inojin asked carefully, after they walked past a rotting corpse of a cow.

“As long as I remember, Frost Country has always been like this”, Chocho said. “When I was smaller, mama scheduled our travel, so they always travelled during night through here, and I slept in the stroller, or in papa’s arms.”

“Parts of Wind Country are like this, too”, Shikadai mumbled. “Especially after a drought. Smaller villages might not have enough water supply, and the drought may be fatal for them. Mum has been on many missions in those small parts.”

“To bring water to them?” Chocho asked.

“No, to bury the bodies”, Shikadai answered. He kicked some loose snow. “But here… here they have all the water they can have. They just need to melt snow, and voilà, water!”

“They are starving”, Chocho said. “There’s no food here. Which sucks, considering we ate our last proviant already. Hopefully we find a shop with at least something edible.”

“Let’s choose an inn with a restaurant”, Shikadai concluded.

“Yes”, Chocho said. “Because just looking at this misery makes me feel hungry.”

They made their way past mountains and rivers, and finally, when it was already pitch-black outside, they found a little bigger town centre.

“This is not Shimo, but a bigger civilian town”, Chocho told them. “But let’s keep our forehead protectors visible at all times, in case anyone asks questions.”

They searched through the whole town in search for the least shady inn they could possibly find. To find an inn with a restaurant seemed like an impossible mission, so they finally chose an inn that at least had isolated walls, so they wouldn’t die of hypothermia in their sleep.

“Let’s share the room”, Chocho said. “I don’t want to sleep alone here.”

“Hi, one room, please”, Shikadai said to the man by the counter. He let dark eyes rest on the trio for an uncomfortable long time.

“Shinobi, ey?” he said. “Foreign shinobi. What are you doing here in our town?”

“Just passing through”, Shikadai said. “It’s dark and cold out there. One room, please.”

“This winter is gonna be a long one”, the man said. “Oh, what I would do for a warm nice summer day. Did you all notice how early the sun goes down here?”

“Yes?” Shikadai answered, after looking at his teammates for moral support.

“It is because the gods can’t see in the dark”, the man said. “And Frost Country is always dark, devoid of sunlight. A godforsaken land. You said one room, ey? Take room 4.”

Shikadai put the money on the counter, snatched the key from the man’s hand, and they all rushed up the stairs and found room number four.

“Holy shit, that man was scary”, Inojin let out when they locked the door. “This place is so creepy.”

“Always been”, Chocho said. “Okay, I know this sounds really weird, but… please stay close to me when we’re outside. It’s not safe for any of us to stray here, and I’ve heard stories of what people do to girls they deem vulnerable. We must carry our weapon visibly.”

Later, when they found themselves too hungry to fool themselves to not walk outside, Shikadai locked his fan onto his back, Inojin placed his tanto on his back, and Chocho did the same with the sword she sometimes fought with.

Armoured, but not at all confident, the trio made their way to one of the very few restaurants they found in the town.

They realized very quickly that this particular restaurant was not your family friendly dinner place, but rather a pub with side dishes. Shikadai suggested they could turn around and get another place, but Chocho had already discovered that this place, no matter how shabby and nasty the pub and its customers were, had grilled pork.

“Come on, it’s the best thing we can find here”, she insisted. “I’m ravenous.”

They chose a table in the corner of the pub, away from the other customers. They noticed how none of the other customers sat with anyone. Everyone sat alone at each table, drinking liquor and spirit directly from bottles the pub sold.

Before they got their food served, one of the lonely women fell on the floor, in a puking mess, and a man got up and lifted her up by her hair onto her chair again. No one of the others batted an eye at the abuse, while Chocho stared at the poor woman. She had still vomit on her chin and clothes, but as if this was every day for her, she continued drinking.

The sight was outrageous.

“As soon as daybreak comes, we’re out of this town”, Shikadai mumbled, when they got their food.

“Anything to drink?” the waitress asked. She was dressed in a dress way too small and her neck was covered in hickeys.

“Just water, thanks”, Chocho said.

“Just water? Okay then” the waitress replied like she had never heard of anyone not asking for the strongest liquor. She turned to Inojin and Shikadai. “And you?”

“Just water”, Inojin mumbled.

“If you have coffee, I’ll take some”, Shikadai said, and forced a fake smile. The waitress looked at Shikadai with raised eyebrows in disbelief, nodded, and left. She wasn’t the only one to give Shikadai looks, Inojin looked at him with a I-told-you-so-smirk. “Okay, I admit, I am addicted, get over it.”

The pork and rice had no spices but salt. It made its way down their throats, tasteless and leathery, but they tried to not complain. It had been ridiculously cheap, after all. The water and coffee arrived, and the instant the coffee mug was put in front of Shikadai he knew that this was certainly not the Sunese coffee he had grown to love.

“What?” Inojin asked when he saw Shikadai’s face.

“It’s… it’s instant coffee”, Shikadai sighed. “Pathetic excuse of good drink.”

“Everything here is a pathetic excuse”, Inojin said, maybe a tad too loudly.

“Shh”, Chocho immediately hushed, as a couple of men raised their glares at them. Out of nowhere a woman came over to them. Her hair was of a silver tone, which was a contrast to her caramel skin. She forced herself on the bench beside Chocho, glossing over them with her golden eyes.

“Hi!” she said, strangely awake. She smelled of alcohol, and her eyes darted from Chocho, to Inojin, to Shikadai. “Shinobi, ey?”

“Yes”, Chocho said, awkwardly pushing the drunk woman away from her.

“What is that?” the woman pointed at the coffee cup. “Is it brandy?”

“Instant coffee”, Shikadai corrected her.

“Why aren’t you getting wasted?” the woman asked, thoroughly confused.

“We’re actually leaving – “Chocho tried.

“No, no, no, not before you tell me where you’re from”, the woman said and threw an arm around Chocho. “I’m Nora, and I am from here.”

The team eyed each other, trying to wordlessly decide whether to lie or to tell the truth. Chocho pushed herself out of Nora’s iron grip around her neck, and beneath the table, out of anyone’s sight, Shikadai placed his fingers in the Rat sign, prepared to paralyze the woman if she didn’t calm down anytime soon.

“Well, that symbol is Kumo, I know that”, Nora said and pointed straight at Chocho’s Kumor forehead protector, which she now bore around her head. “But that one…” She pointed at her Konoha forehead protector, which Chocho wore around her neck. “That is the forest village.”

“Konoha”, Chocho said. “Village Hidden in the Leaves.”

“Oh! You’re a dual citizen!” Nora exclaimed loudly and peered at the others; eyes gleaming. “Okay, so you’re also from Konoha. And you – you’re Konohan, but what is that other symbol?”

“Suna”, Shikadai said. “Village Hidden in the Sand.”

“Where is that?”

“Very far from here”, Shikadai explained tiredly. “In the South.”

“Another one with two villages! You’re very far from home”, Nora concluded. “I’ll treat you something to drink. Wanna try liquorice liqueur? You, coffee guy, probably like it.”

Alcohol made from liquorice? How disgusting isn’t that?

“We’re fourteen”, Shikadai cut her off. “And we’re leaving now. Chocho, Inojin, come.”

They all agreed to get the hell out of the restaurant before Nora could ask them any further questions.

“That was so weird”, Inojin said when they were safe back at their room. “She smelled horribly, yuck.”

“Oh great, the water isn’t running. Frozen pipes”, Chocho mumbled from the toilet. She didn’t, of obvious reasons, want to use the toilet in the restaurant, and had forced her bladder to keep itself together until they reached their own room. “I hate this town. Nothing fucking works, and the people are all creeps! Sorry, Shikadai, but don’t expect nine hours of sleep this night. I want us moving by daybreak. I don’t care how grumpy you’re going to be, but seven hours will have to do.”

“Fine, fine, fine”, Shikadai answered. “I want to leave this place, too, you know.”

“Oh, damn”, Chocho muttered.

“What?”

“I forgot that the sun rises a lot later here than back home”, she said. “The sun will rise at nine, not at seven. We’ll have to travel in the dark for a while.”

“I hate travelling in the dark”, Inojin muttered.

“Stop complaining”, Chocho said, now angrily. “As soon as we reach Kumo everything is going to be okay. Think of those cinnamon buns, guys. We just have to get through the eastern part of the land.”

“You make it sound like that is a bad thing”, Inojin said.

“The terrain is difficult”, Chocho mumbled. “And there has been reported strange activities there. The articles said so.”

They slept a light sleep, side by side in their room, trying their hardest to ignore the verbal fighting going on in the room next to theirs.

The following day they packed their stuff at a record speed. Shikadai left the keys at the counter, as the man had fallen asleep in a drunk slumber by his desk, and they were on their way.

The sky was pitch-black with an invisible moon. Stars covered the sky, in all their constellations. The Pole Star shone as a bright light, trying its best to do what the moon failed. The town was completely silent. All drunks had passed out in their homes, and what few non-drunks there ever were in the town kept themselves out of sight.

They found a little shop in the following town that had chocolate, which they bought a lot of to keep away any hunger until they reached the boarder. According to their speed and the kilometres they had left, they would reach Kumo in five hours, or less.

Chocho felt relieved to leave Frost Country. No matter how many times she’s travelled through the country, she had never been exposed to its ugliest side the same way as she did in that town. No wonder the Bastards of Kumo were desperate, as they had believed to have a ticket to Kumo by proving they had family there, family that didn’t even know of their existence, but family, nonetheless.

What kind of hate crimes had this group of desperate, young twenty-year-olds done to get their message and discontent through?

“Let’s rest”, Chocho determined after a couple of hours, when the sky turned red from a setting sun. The sun sets so early here in the North. “Ten minutes, and then we travel until we reach the border.”

Shikadai hauled his thermos out of his bag. Earlier that day he had very grumpily boiled water over fire (it had taken forever) and got his coffee. It should be enough for the whole day. He drank it, feeling the energy slowly growing inside his body.

“That was my last chocolate”, Inojin said after eating his final snack. “Hopefully there’s food when we arrive, because I’ll be starving.”

“Yes, there will be”, Chocho confirmed. “They’ll spoil us. We’ll get lunch, supper and dinner every day of the conference. And don’t forget the lollipops and cinnamon buns.”

A little more comfortable at their situation, given that they’ll drown in delicacy in less than a day, they continued their travel.

There was no wind. The world around them was completely silent.

All of a sudden Shikadai was struck by pain in his neck, a pain that shot straight up to his head.

His face went numb, and before his hands followed, he reached up for his neck, where the pain came from, and his fingers closed around a foreign object. He yanked the object out of his neck and stared at a tranquilizer dart.

A tranquilizer dart, with an empty syringe.

“Inojin”, he managed to get out as he saw Inojin fall on his knees, with a dart pointing out of his neck. He looked on his other side, where Chocho was struggling to stay awake.

His vision started to blur.

Fright-flight reaction kicked in and he tried to untie his fan, but his hands weren’t working. Before he knew it, he went completely blind and fell face down in the snow, falling into anesthetized sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh a cliffhanger! Sorry not sorry.
> 
> I just want to warn you, I'm can be quite the angst writer, but I promise that this has a happy ending (look at the tag!) and no major character deaths. So you can rest easy :)
> 
> (and I have way too funny creating different cuisine in this world)
> 
> Feeling excited (or dreading what's yet to come) yet, dear readers?


	6. The beginning of a breakdown

Nebui double checked all the lists she had in her folder, checked all the close to thirty dual citizens and their teammates of the upcoming conference. Out of twenty-nine teams, twenty-seven had arrived at the time they had announced by the start of their travel.

The first one to arrive, as soon as the first rays of sun had come out, were the Sunese and their teams. The two boys’ father was from Kumo, and Nebui had recognized them as soon as the border guard had escorted them into the hall. She smiled to herself. She used to play with their father as a child.

Typically, the ones coming from the furthest away are the ones arriving first.

Soon after the Sunese boys arrived, more and more teenagers of different ages flooded the hall. None of them were over the age of nineteen, and the youngest ones were twelve, barely graduated from their respective Academies. The requirement for the participants was, that they had to be graduated from an Academy. They were not accepting pre-genin for this seminar. The foremost reason, they wanted shinobi who were going to do missions on their behalf, and the second reason, they didn’t have enough money to accommodate another forty kids plus teammates who would in said case be invited.

The hall was swarming of teenagers of all cultures, of almost all countries. They had shinobi who grew up in all great nations, and almost all of the smaller nations, too. Well, the representant of Konoha was yet to arrive, but after she, and one shinobi from Kiri with respectively teams, arrived, all of the participants would be here.

Nebui stared at the door, as if her staring at it would make it open and magically the team from Konoha and the team from Kiri would appear.

She hated waiting, and decided to get a salmon roll from the table for the mingle food. She was not the only one heading towards the salmon rolls, as she noticed Omoi standing there, carefully choosing which roll to pick.

“They are all delicious, I can guarantee that”, Nebui told Omoi. She pointed at one of the rolls. “Except that one. That one has poison in it.”

Omoi stared at her.

“Are you serious?”

“Of course not!” Nebui smashed Omoi’s side playfully. “How long are you going to be choosing? I’ll just take this one.”

She put one of the rolls on her plate. Omoi got his decision-making anxiety together, and finally chose one of the biggest rolls.

“Your Konohan team is not here yet”, Nebui said casually.

“Are you sure?” Omoi asked, and peeked around, trying desperately to spot orange pigtails and yellow eyes. “They were due to arrive two hours ago.”

“Probably too much snow in Frost”, Nebui said lazily. “They are a bit delayed.”

Omoi felt in his pocket for the three lollipops he had brought with him to give to Chocho and her teammates as a welcoming gift.

“Oh, I see”, he said, trying to remember what the weather forecast had been in their neighbour country. If he recalled correctly, there were no snowstorms. But he was probably wrong. Maybe they had to shelter for a longer while. “But what about the other teams that travelled through Frost Country? Almost all of them came by land, only a few of all the teams came by sea.”

Nebui shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know”, she said. “Maybe they found better routs. Anyways, Kee and I are going to move the flock of kids over to their accommodations. Most of them stay over at relatives, but some of them stay at inns and we have to make sure they find their way. We’re going to do that sightseeing tomorrow before the Raikage’s speech, will you join us then with the slowpokes if they ever come?”

“Yes, of course”, Omoi said.

“And Omoi”, Nebui said. “Take care of that Kiri team, too, when they come. I know it’s not the team you’re handling, but you can at least greet them.”

“Of course.”

“Great.”

Nebui and Kee got the close twenty-seven invitees and their friends and company, a number close to eighty teenagers out of the hall, leaving Omoi alone in the hall. Almost all of the finger food was eaten, but there was enough for two teams to snack on when they arrive, probably very hungry.

Omoi felt for the lollipops. Chocho would probably bite and crack the lollipop, like she does when she’s very hungry, to eat it faster. He smiled when thinking about his goddaughter. He missed her.

He waited the whole evening and neither the Kiri team, nor the Konoha team arrived.

Hours went by.

When the sun had gone completely down, the door opened and Omoi’s heart almost escaped his ribcage and two young shinobi stumbled in.

“Sorry we’re late!” one of them yelled. “Our third teammate got a really high fever, we had to get him on a boat back home, and that’s what took us so long.”

Omoi tried to smile to them.

“That’s too bad”, he said. “Can I see your invitation?”

One of the two girls were in fact the Kiri shinobi they were expecting, and all of their papers were correct. Omoi showed them the table with the now pitiful looking salmon rolls and other finger food.

“Eat a bit”, he said.

“Are we the last ones to arrive?” the Kiri-Kumo shinobi asked, while stacking salmon rolls on her plate.

“No, there’s still a Konoha team yet to come”, Omoi said. “How was the weather in Frost Country? Pretty bad, I assume.”

“Pretty bad?” the girl parroted, with big, big blue eyes wide open. “The weather was perfect; the sun was shining and there was no wind! We had a perfect view over the coast, too. Too bad the sun sets so early here in the North. It’s constantly dark.”

“And there’s no moon”, the other girl filled in.

“So, when the sun is down, it’s completely dark.”

“Oh”, Omoi said, not needing to have foreigners explain how the sun sets ridiculously early in his home country.

He turned around and glanced at the door. His hand reached tentatively for the lollipops he still had in his pockets.

_Where are you, Chocho? Why aren’t you coming? You can find your way in the dark. _

A crazy thought rushed through his head and he almost offered the lollipops to the two Kiri girls eating, but he held his hand back. No. These lollipops were for Chocho and her team. They would arrive, even if they were late. They were coming. Any minute now.

The Kiri girls left to stay over the Kiri-Kumo girl’s aunt, leaving Omoi yet again alone in the big waiting hall.

They were now more than ten hours late.

_Please Chocho. Be here soon._

Shikadai woke up by someone separating his eyelids and flashing a bright light straight in his eye. The brightness of the flashlight was like someone stabbing him in the eye after being in a dreamless state for so long, and it felt like his optic nerve was on fire.

He tried to move his head but was unable to.

That someone let his right eye go, and moved over to the left eye, separating his eyelids, and flashing that damn light in his pupil.

“Beautiful eyes”, a woman said, and Shikadai’s first reaction was to ironically say _oh, thanks, they’re my mum’s_, because if he got a ryo for every time someone pointed out his ‘beautiful, big green eyes’, he would never have to work a day in his life.

But his mouth wasn’t moving.

He squeezed his eyes shut again immediately after their assessment was over.

“Black Hair is responding”, someone, who was a man, said. “He’s awake.”

“How awake?” The voice was familiar, but Shikadai was unable to pinpoint where he had heard that woman before.

Someone slapped Shikadai on his cheek, and he wrinkled his face in pain, unable to do anything else. He couldn’t move his arms, and he couldn’t feel his legs. If he really, really tried, he could move his fingers a little, but that was it.

“He’s going to be able to stand in a few hours, I think”, the man, who was probably the one who had slapped him, said. “Just like the girl.”

_Chocho’s awake_, Shikadai thought. _Thank god, she’s here, too._

“And now off to the other girl”, the man continued.

“I’m pretty sure it’s a boy”, the woman said.

“Huh? No way”, the man muttered. “Looks like a girl to me. Blond, fair skin, and all.”

“It’s a boy, I remember him”, the woman said, and ruffled with Inojin’s clothes. “Look! No tits. Or do you wanna check the downstairs, too, just to be sure?”

_Don’t fucking touch Inojin!_ Shikadai wanted to scream, but only the faintest of wheeze survived past his lips. He managed to open his eyes, and with a blurry vision see a woman and a man flash the flashlight in front of Inojin’s eye. They did it again, and again, and then with the other eye.

Silence.

“Blondie is not responding.”

They slapped Inojin, hard and repeatedly on both cheeks, and they might as well have slapped Shikadai, too, because it hurt him to see them abuse Inojin.

“Fuck”, the man said. “Blondie is not responding.”

“You – you did put a little less sedative in his syringe, didn’t you?” the woman said, voice shaking.

“No? I put evenly in all of them”, the man said. “What?”

The woman rose up and ruffled her hair out of frustration.

“This boy is the size of a shrimp!” she hissed. “Obviously he does need less sedative than the other two, look at the fat girl, for example. Blondie is probably 10 kilos lighter than Black Hair and Chubby.”

Silence.

“Oh.”

“Did you fucking overdose him?”

“I’m sorry, I just wanted the job done and I didn’t want them awake before they were in their cell”, the man said defensively.

“You overdosed him”, the woman said. “I can’t fucking believe it.”

“I swear, Nora, I didn’t do it on purpose”, the man said.

Nora. Nora. Nora. Where had Shikadai met a Nora before?

Then it hit him.

Nora was the drunk woman from the pub in Frost Country.

“How much?”

“What?”

“How much ketamine did you give him?”

“Seven millilitres, to all of them”, the man mumbled.

“He should have barely six”, Nora snarled. “If he doesn’t wake up today, he’s never going to. I told you to bring them alive! We need them _alive_! And you have managed to kill off one of them already with your fucking sedative.”

“Nora, give him this day”, the man pleaded. “If he doesn’t respond in a day, then he’s dead. But give him one more day to sleep the drug off.”

“Fuck you”, Nora grumbled. “We don’t have many days to spare. But fine. We’ll check on him when we bring food for Chubby and Black Hair.”

The left the room and closed a door that sounded extremely heavy. Shikadai tried to move but couldn’t. He felt a hot tear make its way down the side of his face.

Inojin could die.

They had been drugged and taken hostages like animals, and Shikadai was furious at himself for not noticing them. There had been no wind! He should have been able to hear them. Then he became furious at Inojin for not noticing them when he should definitely be able to sense their chakra – he was had those terrific powers after all – and then Shikadai became furious at Chocho for choosing this specific rout.

He had time to be mad and angry and hurt at everyone he ever felt like had wronged him in this specific moment – Chocho for being invited to this damn conference, the Hokage for assigning the whole team to go to Kumo, the Raikage for creating this seminar, Chocho again for choosing the pub where Nora had stayed, himself again for talking to Nora, and especially at Inojin for being smaller than them and not manage a big dose of a drug, and finally at everyone in the whole world who had any finger put into this hot mess of their journey.

They need to wear this drug off. Quick. And they need to save Inojin.

“Shikadai…?” Chocho’s weak voice called out beside him. “Are you awake?”

Shikadai forced his own voice to work.

“Yes.”

“Did – did you hear them?” Chocho mumbled. “Inojin… he’s not going to make it.”

“He will”, Shikadai said, barely above a whisper. “Give him time.”

“I can move my arms a little”, Chocho said. “Can you?”

“Only the fingers.”

Limb by limb they managed to gather control over their own bodies. How long it took was impossible to detect; the cell was dark with only one single light source in the corner, and they had no idea how long they’d been asleep. It could have been hours. Hunger carved their bellies from the inside, but they had to put aside that.

They managed to, on very shaky legs, walk up to Inojin. Shikadai let himself kneel beside Inojin, and he scooted his legs under the boy’s shoulders, lifting Inojin’s head in his lap.

“Inojin”, he whispered. “Wake up. Please.”

They opened his eyes and tried to investigate them, as well as they possibly could in the shady light. His pupils were bigger than usual in his very still eyes.

Shikadai grabbed Inojin’s cool hand and squeezed.

“Please, Inojin, wake up.”

“His heart is beating”, Chocho said after listening for it. “And his breath is steady.”

“It doesn’t matter if the heart’s beating if his brain’s never going to wake up”, Shikadai tried to say, but his voice broke halfway through, and he had to finish his sentence in a whimper. His vision got blurry again, and that wasn’t from the drug. “Please… wake up.” He reached down and pressed a kiss on Inojin’s forehead.

No reaction.

Shikadai sobbed in the bend of his arm. Chocho withdrew to her own corner, leaving Shikadai alone.

Shikadai’s back started hurting from his position, with Inojin’s lame body in his lap, after holding him for a long time.

All of a sudden Inojin squeezed his hand back.

“Inojin!” Shikadai yelled. “Are you all right?”

“What’s going on?” Chocho yelled back from her corner. She rose on shaky feet.

“He’s – he’s awake”, Shikadai said. “Can you talk, Inojin?

He just squeezed Shikadai’s hand.

“Okay, one squeeze for yes, and two squeezes for no”, Shikadai said as Chocho came over to them. “Can you open your eyes?”

Inojin opened slowly one eye.

“Can you see?”

Two squeezes.

“That’s okay, it’s really dark in here”, Shikadai said quickly. “Soon you’ll be able to see. Are you hurting somewhere?”

One squeeze.

“In your head?”

One squeeze.

“Don’t overexert yourself”, Chocho said. “You got an overdose. That’s why your head is hurting.”

Inojin whimpered and shut his eye again.

“Do you think he’s going to be alright?” she asked quietly.

“Of course”, Shikadai said. “Isn’t that right, Inojin? You’re going to be just fine.”

Two squeezes.

Hours later Shikadai and Chocho got food. By this time they were so hungry they would lick the floor to just get _something_ inside their throats, so they devoured the oatmeal and raw vegetables they got. They were too weak to even try to attack their abductors, and they wanted them to examine Inojin, so they didn’t complain when Nora and the man flashed a light in his eyes.

“Blondie is responding”, the man said.

“His name is Inojin”, Shikadai snarled to them.

“Good”, Nora said, completely ignoring Shikadai. She shoved a syringe, a type without the needle, inside Inojin’s mouth and pressed all its liquid down his throat.

“What are you doing to him?” Shikadai hissed.

“Nothing to worry about, Black Hair”, Nora said. “The syringe contained water mixed with sugar.”

“I have a name”, Shikadai snarled.

“I don’t care, Black Hair”, Nora said. “Your boyfriend is going to be alright.”

“My – what?”

Nora smirked at him.

“Nothing”, she said. “We’ll bring another plate for Blondie, and god forbid, if you eat his portion before he’s able to do so himself. We don’t want him to starve, do we?”

Nora and the man left.

“I hate them”, Chocho said.

“Ow”, Inojin mumbled.

“How are you feeling?” Shikadai asked, bursting out of happiness than Inojin had gotten up in a sitting position.

“M’head is exploding”, Inojin answered.

“It’s okay”, Shikadai said.

“Is not”, Inojin said, now with eyes wide open. “I’m messed up.”

Shikadai didn’t know what to say. Inojin stared at his hands, moving them around to catch their movements. They were shaking. Inojin was shaking and breathing shallowly, sweating and freezing at the same time.

“What do you want me to do?” Shikadai asked. “There’s – there’s not much I can do, but – “

“Hold me”, Inojin whispered, and Shikadai moved him into his embrace, hugging him from behind.

A moment later a little opening close to the floor in the door opened and another plate was pushed into the cell. Inojin started eating slowly, and the second he finished his meal he threw himself on all fours and vomited up everything again in violent rounds.

“This fucking sucks!” he cried. “I want to _die_.”

“No, no, no.” Shikadai pressed his hand really hard now. “Don’t. You’re not going to die. You’re just sick, they hurt you.”

“I want to”, Inojin said, shaking violently. “I’m really not feeling well. I – I can’t use chakra at all. It’s stunned.”

Chocho, who had held his hair out of the way when he puked, hugged him from behind.

“We’re going to get out of here”, she said. “And we’ll kick their asses for doing this to you.”

“We’re going to kill them”, Shikadai added. “I’ll kill them.”

“Listen to Black Hair, being all high and mighty”, Nora chuckled as she looked enchantedly at the screen in front of her. She was delighted that the prisoners hadn’t been able to detect the surveillance camera filming them yet, but she expected nothing else. The camera was very well hidden among the bricks in the darkest upper corner and the microphone was just as well hidden behind the genjutsu they had cast on the wall. “He just said he’ll kill us. As if.”

“I’m just happy Blondie didn’t die”, the man, whose name was Ibi, said.

“You better be”, Nora mumbled. “Okat, let’s look at what we have here.”

They walked over to the table next to the screens, where they had Team 10's all belongings scattered. Nora lifted the first ID in front of her.

“Chubby is the one with ties to Kumo”, she said. “Akimichi Chocho. Here’s her invitation to the conference, and tickets for the whole bunch. She also had train tickets for a journey home, leaving from Hot Spring Country’s train station.”

“Oh, can we leave for Konoha using their tickets after this is done?” Ibi asked. “I’ve never been to the South before.”

“You wish, there will be a bounty on our heads after this”, Nora said. “No trains. So, Chocho has this Kumor sword, too, but I think there’s more to her than this. She probably had some chakra jutsu she uses.”

“I bet they all have”, Ibi said. “They’re shinobi after all.”

“We’re also shinobi”, Nora muttered. “And I don’t care that we have no registration code, or a country that will acknowledge us as shinobi, we know in our hearts that we are, and that’ll do.” She moved over to the next ID and the forehead protectors they had cut off Shikadai’s sleeve. “Black Hair’s name is Nara Shikadai of the Sand, and he has ties to both Suna and Konoha, according to his papers. Could you check up on his name is there’s anything valuable there?”

Ibi moved over to their computer, wired up with heavy ethernet cables and other wires that cost more than they made in a whole lifetime. They were lucky the wealthy couple they had “borrowed” the computer off was scared enough to just donate it to them.

“And this giant ass iron fan is his weapon.” Nora lifted it off the table. “Weights hell of a lot. This thing here is worth its weight in gold, I tell you. We could make a lot of money if we sell it.”

Ibi clicked around on the search engine.

“Jackpot”, he said. “That Sand kid is of the Kazekage clan.”

“Is he?” Nora asked. “The Kazekage clan? As in a possible heir for the Kazekage seat? We could make money off _him, _too! I’m sure the Kazekage would give us a hefty ransom if we send one of the Black Hair’s fingers to Suna as a threat.”

“Nora, are you insane? That could trigger a whole war”, Ibi said carefully. “Frost will die if another war ravage through here, especially if Suna is after _us _and not some reanimated sponge soldiers.”

“I was just discussing the possibilities”, Nora said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Remember the plan”, Ibi said cautiously.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I was the one who _created_ that plan, Ibi, shut up”, Nora said and laid the fan back on the table. She opened Inojin’s ID. “Blondie’s name is Yamanaka Inojin, and he’s not a dual citizen, only Konohan. His bags were full of these empty scrolls, pencils, brushes and ink, and I don’t know if these are weapons or if he’s just an artist. He also had this tanto on his back. Is he of importance?”

Ibi searched on the computer, looking around.

“I found a website for a flower shop”, he said. “Seems like his family owns one.”

“Okay, definitely an artist”, Nora concluded. “So, Blondie is the unimportant pet of the group.” She looked back at the screen, at the trio they had taken hostages. “They seem really attached to each other. We could use that to our advantage.”

“Black Hair looks like he’s ready to break the door.” Ibi asked, and Nora lifted an unamused eyebrow. “He needs more calming.”

“How cute of him”, Nora said, and looked over to the screens again. “You can ask Soni, she’s the one who dosage the drugs in their food. Tell her to give more calming drug to Black Hair. I think Blondie and Chubby are good as they are. Chubby is the one we truly need, and we don’t want to hurt Blondie more. But Black Hair. He looks far too livid for his own good.”

“Yes”, Ibi said, and hurried away. Nora put her feet on the table, leaning back in the old chair. She brought her pen up to her mouth and chewed on it.

She had worked incredibly hard for this to work. Everything from murder to stealing, every sin one can ever list up, she had committed to prepare herself. To prepare the Bastards of Kumo, to which she had self-appointed herself as their leader. They would make Kumo regret forever that they didn’t think about inviting everyone who deserved an invitation to their conference. Snatching a team about to attend Kumo’s conference was only the first step.

She couldn’t do anything but smile when she stared at the screen to watch the three prisoners cuddled into a pile, readying themselves for sleep.

The second step, which was only time, was about to begin.

Time to break them down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where things start to get serious (and I become more nervous and self-conscious for each upcoming chapter ugh). 
> 
> On another note: Currently writing chapter 12, and am so close to 50 000 words, which means that if I within a couple of days write past that word count, I will have written 50k words in less than 30 days, a.k.a I win NaNoWriMo (though I didn't follow the official dates) for the first time ever! This story all in all will be probs over 60k words, so you're in for a journey!


	7. Lightning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: sadism

If there was anything the Ino-Shika-Cho trio could be happy about in their miserable situation, that was that they had their winter coats on. If their capturers had taken their coats away from them, then there wouldn’t be anything else but frozen meat of them left.

The cell was freezing cold. The stone floor could just as well be made of ice.

The tiny light in one of the corners did ray a bit of warmth, but way too little for it to have any effect.

Shikadai stood beneath the lamp, measuring how well it cast shadows. It did its job poorly, the shadows were weak and blurry, becoming quickly eaten by the other shadows of the cell.

“Why doesn’t it _work?”_ Shikadai snarled out of frustration. “I should be able to, I should! Chocho, let’s try again.”

Chocho stood at the other end of the cell, in the darkness, with hands tucked inside her jacket to keep the cold out. Shikadai had lent his jacket to Inojin, who still suffered side-effects from his overdosing, whereas he cold sweated constantly. Shikadai tried his hardest to ignore the cold against his own skin (_It’s just the skin. If the muscles are being warm, you’re not being hurt, _he tried to tell himself. _Inojin has it so much worse than you, stop whining_). At least the food they had gotten was warm, in fact steaming.

Ever since they’ve woken up from their narcosis, they’ve gotten food twice. The only time they heard of their captors when the food was pushed through the little opening by the door, on trays. Each plate had their name on it, and Inojin’s had gotten something extra on it, like chocolate, as a pathetic way of excusing for accidently overdosing him.

When the second meal arrived Shikadai got a cup of washy coffee (better than nothing), and they had all got a shot each of strong alcohol.

“Do they expect us to become drunk, too?” Chocho had snorted when sniffing at the strong alcoholic smell.

They hadn’t taken it.

Shikadai put his fingers again in the familiar Rat sign, and his shadow manifested in the world as a living creature, but as soon as it stretched beyond the little circle of light, it lost its power among the other shadows.

The shadow didn’t even reach Chocho before it completely died.

“Fuck”, Shikadai muttered. “I’m not – I won’t…” The words hurt on his tongue, and he tried to keep himself together. “I’m… not strong enough.”

To say the words out loud felt like throwing in the towel. Maybe that was what he wanted, if he really analysed inside himself. To just stop trying all together and deal with the situation. Force himself to adapt. Just give the captors what they wanted and then suffer the consequences. Trying to fight darkness was troublesome and tiresome. He gave up and slumped down beside Inojin.

“You’re cold”, he mumbled to Inojin. He didn’t answer him. “What about you, Chocho? Is your chakra working like it should?”

Chocho focused her chakra, shaky and twisty, into her hand to expand it. It did expand, but the illusion broke after a few seconds.

“My chakra is behaving weird”, she noted. “Like it’s not moving properly. It doesn’t stretch all the way to the fingers. It’s like… something is blocking it. I would need food pills to have any real effect from my jutsus.”

Shikadai sighed deeply.

“My dad was once taken captive”, he then said. “They used some smell from flowers to weaken and mess with their victims. My dad was constantly exposed to this, without his knowledge, while being in captivity. But once he understood what was making him weak, he could fight it.”

“Heh, I know that story”, Inojin said, with a small chuckle. “It was my dad who captured him. He was also exposed to those flowers and was really messed up. My mum saved him.” He leaned back against the wall, sighing. He was so homesick he felt physical pain in his chest.

Inojin knew that story as well as the back of his own hand. His father, Sai, would always tell him about it when he was younger, because according to him, that moment when Ino brought him back to safety, was the moment he fell in love with her.

So, every anniversary, every birthday, Inojin had heard the story. The story when Sai had been fooled by the enemy and had caught Shikamaru. It had a happy ending, that perfect fairy-tale ending with love and dates and Inojin felt his stomach turn into a hard knot when thinking about how _his_ ending would be.

Was there at all a happy ending to this story?

“Yeah, and my mum came to the rescue, too”, Shikadai filled in. “And your dad”, he added and nodded towards Chocho. “Perfect Ino-Shika-Cho-moment. With some add-ons.”

There is was again. The happy ending.

They fell into silence.

“So… what’s weakening us?” Chocho then asked. “It can’t be the sedative; we’ve worn it off already.”

“As long as it didn’t cause permanent damage”, Shikadai muttered.

“It’s the food”, Inojin then said, and everyone stared at him. “There has to be some kind of drug in the food.”

Could they stop eating, starve and just hope for them to find a way to escape as soon as their chakra returned to normal?

Even if they had gotten food, the amounts were small. The amounts were never big enough to cover the need their bodies had. Their bodies worked hard to keep them warm in the cold cell and they were starving to begin with. To start hunger striking would be a very ineffective way, being so weak they were, but it was always _a_ way.

“Okay, how many calories are there in the oatmeal they feed us?” Shikadai pondered. “If we don’t eat the following meal, then how much worth of energy do we lose compared to how much we would need if we would have to fight? What are the first symptoms of starvation? Argh, can any of you remember those charts of how much energy chakra usage demands? I need a calculator to figure this out, damn it!”

“Stop overanalysing, Shikadai”, Inojin said. “We’ll wing it.”

“Wing – _wing_ it?” Shikadai snarled. “We can’t improvise starving! You almost died, Inojin, seriously, we can’t wing this. We have to come up with a plan.”

“Don’t we have a plan already?” Chocho asked.

“What plan?”

“A plan to hunger strike until our chakra returns to normal and we can bust out of here.”

The food on the plates in front of them – same tasteless oatmeal goo – was later that day untouched. Chocho sat in her corner, back faced towards the food. She was on the verge of desperate tears, she was _so_ hungry that she was going to snap any moment now, but she had agreed to go on a hunger strike, too, to get back her full control of her chakra. In fact, she was the one who decided that they would commit to the strike.

She had the biggest chance of winning against their capturers, as Shikadai’s shadows were weak in the dark, and Inojin was still sick. She wouldn't be as strong as she usually was, because of the starvation, but she didn't have to rely on nature as much as Shikadai. They counted on her. Their survival might depend on her resilience.

“Can’t you just use the wind with your hands?” she then snapped at Shikadai.

“Can you sense any wind?” Shikadai asked huffily, just as hungry and miserable as she was. “That’s because there is no wind here, Chubs! I can’t use wind if there aren’t any air currents, or well, yes, I can, but that jutsu will be just as weak as the shadows. Don’t you see that we’re in the worst possible conditions for me? I’m fucking useless here! So, get yourself together and starve! This is the plan.”

Chocho muttered something inaudible. Shikadai hit the back of his own head in the wall behind him.

“What?” he snapped. “Can’t take one for the team, huh? If I had my fan here, that would be a different story, but they’ve taken all our weapons!”

Chocho almost yelled that they hadn’t taken _all_ their weapons, but the last moment she held her tongue. She had a kunai, a smaller version than the ordinary ones, sneaked inside her stuffed bra. Luckily her boobs were of a size that covered the kunai well. Putting a kunai there was actually a trick in case, in the very rare, but very real case of someone trying to take advantage of her, so she could pluck someone’s eye out with it.

The capturers, though they’d taken every weapon, even the senbon she had hid in the fabric of her belt, hadn’t groped through her bra.

This kunai was to be used as soon as some of the capturers actually walked inside the door instead of just shoving the food through the little opening.

That was why she wanted to eat the food. Who cares if she got drugged, when she had a weapon that didn’t demand chakra?

But something in her stopped her from telling her teammates that she carried a weapon. Something inside her told her they were being listened to, and she didn’t want to spoil the secret to whoever was listening to them.

“They’re not eating”, Nora mumbled, while chewing in the end of a pen. “Damn it. They figured it out.”

“What are you going to do?” Soni asked. She was the chef, or rather the scientist, who had prepared the food, and carefully crushed the pills in a mortar, and mixed the dust inside the oatmeal goo the kids were being served. Giving calming drugs in the form of pills had a longer lasting effect, but if their prisoners discontinued eating it, then the disturbance in their chakra would disappear.

The pills, the drug, they were Soni’s experiment, her baby in fact. She knew what they did to a shinobi’s chakra system, and she was proud of the results she saw on the screen when the disgusting mixed-breed shinobi, Chubby and Black Hair, tried their powers. Soni got almost high on the thought of them becoming so weak. She was winning over trained and acknowledged shinobi, without even having to fight.

“Soni”, Nora said. “Make them eat.”

“Can I use whichever means I want?” Soni asked.

“Just don’t kill them”, Nora said. “Especially not Black Hair and Chubby, they’re valuable. And we have use for Blondie, later. Don't kill anyone.”

Soni walked down to the second floor, into the rooms where the cables from the surveillance camera and microphone where twisted into knots. She knew there was a little opening from there, too, down to the cell, and she carefully, one millimetre at a time, shifted the flap until it was completely open.

She looked down at the kids, and they hadn’t noticed her. Perfect. When a shinobi’s chakra is disturbed, their sensing skills weakens, too.

Soni took a step back and forced the chakra in her own arm to work, to activate the jutsu she had self-taught herself through trial and error. Bolts of lightning surrounded her hand, uncontrollable and wild as lightning in the eye of a storm.

It was so powerful her arm almost hurt, but she bit her lip and pressed her arm inside the opening and shot the strongest lightning bolt she could possibly produce down right at Chocho. In reality, Soni couldn’t even see who she was aiming at, because of the brightness of her self-made version of what could be compared to a Chidori-jutsu.

“Chocho, watch out!” Shikadai cried as the lightning struck Chocho in her back.

But Chocho was one step ahead. As she felt the lightning go through her body she forced her chakra, the chakra that now after the hunger strike had slowly returned, to welcome it.

_Make it move within you, make it move!_ Chocho thought to herself as her chakra flow caught the lightning bolt. _Avoid the heart, avoid the heart, avoid the heart, get out, get out through my other hand_.

To make the lightning avoid her heart she had to guide it through other channels, through smaller capillaries of her blood system. The lightning struck inside her lungs, and it _hurt this bad_ and Chocho was out of breath after her breathing system took a beating. She managed to remain standing as the electricity burned through her and she still had control over the raging force of nature inside her body.

_Get out, get out, get OUT!_

Chocho streamed the lightning bolt from her torso to her arm and to her fingers and the lightning bolt shot out of her fingers into the wall, leaving a black spot of soot.

She fell onto the floor, panting, trying to get her lungs to breathe when they didn’t want to, but she had managed to make the lightning avoid her heart and that was the most important thing.

“Holy shit, Chocho, are you all right?” Inojin asked after he and Shikadai kneeled beside her. “This is madness, they’re trying to kill us!”

“Ouch, ouch”, Chocho wheezed. “That hurt!”

“Lucky you with Lightning Style”, Shikadai said after she managed to sit up. “I don’t think anyone else could do that cool redirecting style of nature. Wow. You should be proud of yourself.”

_So, Chubby has Lightning Style, _Soni thought bitterly as she sat by the little opening in the ceiling, listening to them. _Damn. Then I must try the other one._

She could’ve have left it there. There was no actual need to shoot another bolt, but she wanted to. She wanted to zap them. To focus her anger and hurt at something physical, rather than at an institution and political system.

She loaded another lightning bolt in her hand – this will be her final bolt before she totally runs out of chakra – and forced her hand down the opening. She vaguely directed it towards the boys and shot.

The lightning bolt struck Shikadai straight in his chest.

“Shikadai!” Inojin shrieked, but Shikadai didn’t hear him.

Time had stopped for Shikadai. Suddenly his field of vision was surrounded by a white cloak, and his brain was screaming when the electricity crackled inside of it, and it felt like his body _exploded _and this was him dying.

In the matter of milliseconds, Shikadai had fallen on his back, and Chocho arched over him. She snatched the kunai she had hidden in her bra and stabbed it into Shikadai’s thigh, so deep it almost connected to his bone.

“What are you doing?” Inojin shouted at Chocho. “Where did you get the kunai from?”

There was no time to explain. Iron attracts lightning, and Chocho could control lightning.

_Avoid the heart, avoid the heart_. The mantra was repeated inside her head again.

If she could transfer some of her chakra through her kunai into Shikadai’s system and into the first electricity bolt from the main lightning that would reach the iron weapon, then she could control all of it.

The kunai connected to the lightning bolt, and Chocho forced it to leave Shikadai’s chest. She realized with horror that this electricity voltage was far greater than the one that hit her.

She was too late. The lightning had already travelled through his heart, up his head and down the arteries to his lower body.

She forced more chakra inside Shikadai’s body and attracted the main body of the lightning bolt into her kunai. From the kunai the lightning travelled into her own body. Again.

_Avoid the heart, please, just avoid my fucking heart!_

The lightning followed the directions she forced it into, into the capillaries, now around the lungs instead of right through them. Chocho shot the second lightning through her other hand, into the wall with a zap. Okay, now she had pushed herself beyond her limits, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was Shikadai.

“His heart has stopped beating!” Inojin yelled, with horror in his eyes and pain in his voice, after he had desperately tried to hear that familiar, lovely _du-dun, du-dun_ of a beating heart. Inojin’s eyes darted to the wound in his thigh and the kunai still sticking out of it. “Do _not_ remove that kunai! We need to get his heart beating again.”

Inojin ignored the nausea he still had from the overdose, over a day after he got it into his blood system, and pressed his mouth against Shikadai’s mouth, closing Shikadai’s nostrils with his hand.

One, two, three blows of air in Shikadai’s lungs later Inojin moved over to his ribcage and pressed _hard_ thirty times above his heart. He was so focused on his task to save Shikadai’s life that he forgot the nausea, forgot to cry and forgot how weak and sick he was.

Inojin continued with the CPR for another two nerve-wrecking, long, agonizing minutes, and when he decided to listen for Shikadai's heart he was greeted with silence.

“It’s not beating”, Inojin whispered when he pressed his ear against the ribcage. “Chocho! Please, I need you! You must put electricity through his heart again to get it to start beating.”

“I have no chakra – “

“You have to!” Inojin yelled in a high-pitched, panicky voice, and Chocho obeyed. She pressed her hand against Shikadai’s chest.

“Gentle Thunderclap Fist”, she whispered, with intonation on _gentle._ A new electricity bolt dug itself into Shikadai’s chest and it heaved itself up and down. Chocho repeated the practise, until they saw Shikadai’s chest raise itself without the assistance of neither CPR nor defibrillation.

Inojin pressed his ear against Shikadai’s ribs and heard what he _longed _to hear.

_Du-dun. Du-dun. Du-dun._

Shikadai’s heart was beating again and he was breathing.

“He’s breathing again”, Inojin whispered as tears of joy fell down his cheeks. “Holy shit. Holy shit. Oh my god.” He had to lean back from the nausea. He looked at Chocho who curled herself into a foetus position. “How – how are you feeling?”

“My body won’t stop shaking”, Chocho whispered. “My lungs… My muscles… My chakra… Don’t worry about me, take care of Shikadai.”

Inojin nodded, pushing himself into an active position to examine the kunai sticking out of Shikadai’s spasming leg. He stared with terror at the amount of blood Shikadai had lost. He moved into action, carefully removing the kunai and pressing his hand against the open wound, out of which blood poured.

Turquoise flickering, weak medical chakra made its way out of Inojin’s open palm and stopped the bleeding. Inojin worked himself and the healing chakra, cell by cell, deeper into the wound, to the place a heartbeat away from Shikadai’s thigh bone where the kunai had stopped. Slowly, agonizingly slowly the cells created replicas, sewing the veins and muscles together until a raw scar remained on the bruised skin.

Shikadai opened his eyes. He grabbed Inojin’s arm and dug his fingernails into Inojin’s skin.

“What – what did you do?” he asked while manically looking around the dark room.

“Shikadai, you’re alive, everything is going to be okay”, Inojin tried to calm him down.

“I’m dying”, Shikadai said, and repeated the same sentence over and over again. “Inojin, I – I think I’m dying.”

“He’s in a delusional shock”, Chocho hurried to say. “That bolt went up his brain and made him… not rational at least. It happens after a strong electric shock.”

“Shh, Shikadai, sweetie, you’re not dying”, Inojin said, and Shikadai writhed in his lap. It was hard to determine whether he did it out of pain or out of confusion and panic.

“My leg”, Shikadai said. “It hurts. It hurts so bad! Inojin, why is it hurting?”

“Chocho tried to save you”, Inojin explained, and tried to not grimace at the way Shikadai pressed himself against him. He held Inojin’s wrist ever so tightly, as if he would die if he even for a second lightened the pressure. “She had to make the lightning move in your body, and she had to attract the electricity out of you.”

“Inojin”, Shikadai whispered. “Please, don’t let me die.”

“I’m not”, Inojin said and hugged him even harder. “I won’t ever let you die.”

Inojin felt helpless. Shikadai was having panic in his lap, being delusional and talking without making sense, and Chocho was shivering beside him.

“I can’t do this anymore. I have to eat”, Chocho finally said. “I will pass out if I don’t eat. Sorry, Inojin, but I need to eat. To hell with the plan.”

She crawled up to the plates and ate. She devoured every ounce of the food, and all Inojin did was watching, knowing very well that all the progress they’ve made – the hunger strike and Chocho gaining chakra again – it all was ruined. Chocho had used up all her chakra by moving two very strong and dangerous electrical bolts through her body, through her organs, and Lightning Style or not, that was damaging. And now she had eaten the food that was weakening her because she saw no other way out.

They were back to square one.

And Shikadai.

He had almost… Inojin didn’t want to think about it. Hadn’t Inojin been trained in medical ninjutsu, Shikadai would’ve bled to death from his thigh, if his heart wouldn’t have killed him first. 

Shikadai had lost so much blood. He _needs_ to eat, too.

The whole situation was absurd. Shikadai, who was the most rational and put-together out of all of them had been shocked by the lightning into a regressed state filled with anxiety.

“Shikadai, you need to eat”, Inojin said to him. “You’re hurt, sweetie, you must get energy again.”

Chocho looked up at him from her plate.

“Are you sure…?” she silently asked.

“You _gave up_, don’t give me that look”, Inojin said. “Shikadai needs to eat more than you.”

“Easy for you to say, you didn’t have two lightning bolts strike through your body”, Chocho sneered back.

“And he had one lightning bolt strike his heart”, Inojin said, now growing impatient. “Please, Chocho, don’t fight me.” He was so goddamn tired he wanted to scream. “We’re in this together and we’re better off if we don’t fight.”

“Yeah.” That was Shikadai’s voice. Both of his teammates turned around to look at him. He had since his death anxiety grown quiet and had sat mostly with his face covered during the other two’s bickering.

“Hey”, Inojin said and caressed Shikadai’s cheek. “How are you?”

“Sorry for scaring you, Inojin. I was just… I don’t know… I was just really scared myself. I really thought… Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. God, it still hurts, though.” Shikadai patted lightly on his thigh.

“Sorry”, Chocho excused.

“No, don’t be sorry”, Shikadai sighed. “You have every right to be mad. I mean, we all are.” He took his own plate and after getting a nod of acknowledge from Inojin he started eating. “Ino-Shika-Cho live and die together, remember?”

Shikadai used to joke quite a lot about dying together, but whenever he had done it, it had been with a light tone. It had been a joke. Sure, they wouldn’t die, they had thought before. A shinobi life was not that cruel anymore, not in this time of peace, not to children and teenagers at the very least.

But… they were not going to die. Right?

Yet, here they were. The plan of hunger strike hadn’t worked out like a dream.

“We can just start over again after this”, Shikadai said and the other two agreed.

After Shikadai had eaten, Inojin turned to an activity that he knew Shikadai loved, to calm both himself and the one he cared the most about. He brought a hand up to Shikadai’s hair, untied his ponytail and let his hand run through his hair. He massaged his scalp, braided Shikadai’s hair, undid the braid and started on another.

“I like that”, Shikadai mumbled to him as he let himself lean back against Inojin’s chest.

“I know”, Inojin responded against his hair. “That’s why I do it.”

Later Inojin laid his head against Shikadai’s chest, listening to his heartbeats. He had saved Shikadai’s life, and should feel proud and happy, but he didn’t allow himself. He was still on a hunger strike and was the only one out of the trio who hadn’t touched their food.

It was his turn to gain chakra again and use it to save them all. Shikadai had earlier been very determined to kill their capturers, but maybe it would be Inojin who would deliver the blow, after all.

Nora rushed down to the lab where Soni had retreated. She pressed Soni against the wall, furious like she had never been before.

“What did I fucking tell you!” she shouted in Soni’s face. “Do not kill them! And what do you do? Shoot them with lightning! That is not within the ‘not kill them’-deal!”

Soni pushed Nora away from her.

“I just wanted to zap them a bit.”

That was a lie. She wanted to hurt them. To hurt the privilege little shits of shinobi with dual citizenship and fancy surnames.

“Zap them? _Zap them_?” Nora repeated. “You shot _lightning_ through that Sand boy’s heart! He almost died.”

“The lightning chooses itself how strong it wants to be”, Soni defended herself.

“You should be very happy that Blondie apparently is a medic!” Nora hissed. “Because I don’t know what we would do if he wasn’t.”

“Sorry.”

“First Ibi almost kills Blondie by overdosing him”, Nora growled, pinching the bridge of her nose. “And now you almost kill Black Hair by shooting lightning at him. The main event of the conference is tomorrow and the day after tomorrow! We need them somewhat alive by then. Bring in the girl, Chocho or whatever her name was. I don’t care if she’s asleep. Wake her up and bring her to me.”

Nora turned around and made herself ready to leave Soni alone, but before that she threw one final glance at her.

“We can’t wait any longer. Let them starve if they want to”, Nora said. “It’s time to give Chocho her mission.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was rewritten four times, as I'm treading the delicate line of balance between hurt and comfort.
> 
> Will Inojin manage to save them?  
What mission will Chocho get?
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> On the 50k word note: I made it! 50k words written in 26 days! Yes, it's madness. Currently writing chapter 13.  
(also, added some new tags to the work).


	8. Boyfriends

Nebui had just finished the sightseeing with the twenty-eight shinobi and their teammates, and she was exhausted. Luckily, she and her colleagues had shared the burden and divided the big group of chattering, excited teenagers into smaller groups.

But why had Nebui’s group been so loud? They had asked tons of questions, about Kumo, about the culture, about the war, about their former jinchuurikis, and Nebui almost wanted to rip her hair out.

So, she was really satisfied when her fifteen kids went out to grab octopus sticks from the market and left her alone.

She walked up the 377 steps of stairs to her office in the Raikage’s administrator building, and sat by the window, slowly sipping a cup of hot chocolate. The sun was already setting, after the four hours of it being present on the sky.

The northern sunsets were so beautiful. That was definitely the best parts of winter in the North, Nebui thought to herself. Yes, it was cold and dark, but the orange otherworldly sunsets, they were worth all the darkness in the world.

She peered to her right, at Omoi, who absentmindedly sucked on a lollipop, while being absolutely mesmerized by the sunset. He had had that habit since she got to know him, when he started to work in the administration business. Nebui sipped louder, drawing his attention to her.

“How were your kids?” she asked.

“Meh, okay”, Omoi answered, looking away.

“Your Konoha-team ditched our conference”, Nebui said. “We called the border guard’s office earlier today. There hasn’t been any activity there.”

Omoi nodded.

“I know.”

“What’s your relationship to that Akimichi girl?” Nebui asked, when she didn’t receive any further discussion from Omoi.

“She’s Karui’s daughter”, Omoi said. “Karui used to be my teammate.”

“Oh, yes”, Nebui said.

“Chocho is my goddaughter”, Omoi continued. “And I looked forward to this.” He rose from the comfortable chair he had sat in. “I fucking waited for them! I can’t do this anymore, Nebui! I can’t tend to other guests and kids when I could tend to _them. _Something has happened to them, Nebui, and we should, as their hosts, send a searching party for them. They crossed Frost Country, after all.”

“We don’t have the resources to look for three kids in Frost Country, or wherever they are”, Nebui said. “We need all our shinobi here, as guards for this conference. The Bastards of Kumo are lurking everywhere. Suspicious activity has been reported from all over our country, and we can’t have anyone attack our conference. We are needed here.”

“Then I’ll go”, Omoi said. “I’m asking permission from Lord Fifth.”

“No”, Nebui said.

“You can’t stop me”, Omoi said.

“You are not leaving our conference for some Konohan brats”, Nebui repeated.

“Chocho is ours!” Omoi snarled. “She is one of us, too.”

“And her teammates are not!” Nebui said. “You are needed here, Omoi.”

Omoi bit his lollipop, cracking it into small pieces in his mouth.

“Konohan brats, you say”, he said. “One of them is the possible heir for the Kazekage seat. What would Suna say if they got to know we left their prince to his own luck when we invited him?”

“We don’t tell Suna anything yet”, Nebui said.

“Nebui, don’t you have a heart?” Omoi yelled at her.

“I have duties”, Nebui answered, cold as ice. “Duty to keep the kids who made it to us alive. And you better understand that, too, Omoi.”

Nebui left him alone, the heels of her shoes tapping against the marble floor.

Omoi walked straight to the telephone by his desk, lifted the mouthpiece. He put it down again, trying to calm his nerves and reached for another lollipop. He opened the plastic around it, put it in his mouth, and let out a long sigh.

He lifted the mouthpiece again, clicking the number he knew by heart, and luckily Karui answered before his nerves gave up and before he smashed the mouthpiece back to the base again. He had to get the cat out of the bag.

“Karui from the Akimichi household speaking”, she answered the phone.

“Hi”, Omoi said, throat dry.

“Omoi! How’s Chocho and the boys? Do they have fun in Kumo?” Karui asked.

“Yeah, actually…” Omoi started, not knowing how the hell he was going to keep this going. “Ehum, about Chocho… right… I need – I need to tell you something.”

Choji found Karui edging her sword out in the yard behind their house. She didn’t turn around when he greeted her, only continued with the hollow _scratch, scratch_ as the sword was pressed along the grindstone.

“Is everything alright, honey?” Choji asked and walked closer.

_Scratch, scratch._

Karui turned slowly around to look at Choji with a blank face. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line and a single, angry tear made its way down her cheek.

“They were supposed to be safe”, she said with an emotionless voice. “They were supposed to have fun.”

“What’s going on?” Choji asked, anxiety growing steadily in his stomach.

“And Omoi didn’t think about telling me this earlier”, Karui continued. “He kept this a secret because he knew I was worried.”

“Has something happened to Chocho?” Choji already knew the answer.

Karui glared at him as more tears escaped her waterline. She turned around and sliced the air with her sword and _hacked_ it into a nearby tree with such a force it got stuck and she didn’t get it out again.

“They were supposed to have FUN!” she yelled at the tree. “They are missing, Choji! They never made it to Lightning Country, to Kumo, to the conference, they are _gone! _Our daughter is missing, do you hear me?”

“Chocho is missing?” Choji parroted.

“And Inojin and Shikadai!” Karui growled like a dog. “They are gone, do you understand what that means? Someone has taken our child, be it nature or criminals, but they are _gone._”

“No”, Choji whispered. “No, it can’t be true. Don’t let it be true.”

Karui closed the space between them as she glared up in his pale, horrified face.

“You’ve got one hour to convince Shikamaru and Ino to join us”, Karui said, voice shaking. “Because after 60 minutes, I’m leaving for Frost Country. I’m going to bring back Chocho whether you like it or not.”

“Honey…”

“The clock is ticking, Choji!” Karui said with a threatening voice. “I let my baby down and I will not do it again.”

Oh, how Choji dreaded this. Would he even manage to get the message through to Shikamaru and Ino without falling into a worried and anxious mess? His child is missing and had never made it to the conference that begun two days ago. She had been missing for at least two days.

He started out with Shikamaru.

He found him on the roof of the Hokage’s administration building, looking up at the sky during his smoking break.

“Nice clouds”, Choji greeted Shikamaru.

“Hey, man”, Shikamaru said casually, leaning back on the rail of the roof. “What’s up?”

“I have news”, Choji said. “Let’s fetch Ino, first.”

“Is something wrong?” Shikamaru lifted an eyebrow.

“Yes”, Choji confirmed. “I’ll tell you when we find Ino.”

They walked in silence, an insufferable silence, from Shikamaru’s office to Ino’s flower shop. Shikamaru was smoking non-stop all the way to calm himself down. Ino had costumers, and the duo waited outside for the costumers to leave.

“You know I can sense you, guys”, Ino called to them as soon as the costumers were gone. “Why are you hiding out there? Come inside.”

Choji and Shikamaru walked around the corner into the shop. Shikamaru looked uneased at Choji, who were fiddling with a bag of chips. The sound of the crunching bag was annoying.

_Crunch, crunch._

“Too bad I’ve already eaten lunch, if that was what you wanted”, Ino said, looking at her friends. “Okay, spill it, you guys. What’s wrong?”

Choji wrinkled the bag further, making the sound of it even more annoying. Shikamaru ripped the bag out of Choji’s hands.

“Well, tell us, Choji”, he snapped. “I haven’t got all day.”

“Omoi called Karui”, Choji began. “He told them that Chocho, Inojin and Shikadai never made it to Kumo. They’re missing.”

Silence.

Oh, such deafening silence.

“You are kidding me”, Shikamaru said. “Missing? How are they missing?”

“Nobody knows”, Choji said. “They never got to the border of Lightning Country, that’s for sure. Karui thinks they’re still in Frost Country.”

“Frost Country”, Shikamaru mumbled. “Don’t tell me that terrorist group – ” He turned to face Ino, who was staring into nothing, eyes filled with horror. “Ino!”

Ino snapped out of her trance. Having reality reaching into her again, she put her fingers together into the Ram sign. Inojin’s mind was usually easy to spot, and her being so exposed to it, she could usually find it in matters of seconds.

Inojin usually disliked Ino reaching to his mind. _Mum, seriously, I AM coming home, you don’t have to break into my head just to tell me dinner’s ready_, was one of his catch lines when Ino wanted him to be back now, and not when he’d finished gaming. But sometimes she just sensed after him, quickly brushing upon his mind, to know he’s _there_ and alive and well, and usually she got an inkling of his momentarily feelings when she did that.

Most of the time it was happiness. During the autumn and winter, it was love and lust every time he was with Shikadai, and that was how she had got to know he was in love with Shikadai. Sometimes it has been envy and jealousy, specifically after the failed chunin exam. But he was feeling, and no matter what it was, Ino felt her heart burst out of happiness every time she sensed him.

A minute passed, and she sensed nothing.

Her forehead creased. Inojin should be easy to detect. Panic quickly filled her chest.

“We’re too far away”, she quickly determined. “Frost Country is too far away. Let’s go to the main transmitter.”

Shikamaru and Choji helped Ino close the shop, and they all shunshinned to the Intelligent Division Centre in the centre of the village of Konoha.

Ino pressed her hand against the scanner of the outer door, earning a green light and the door opened. They walked upstairs, through another door that required a correct handprint. On the other side, the main transmitter waited for them.

The main transmitter was an updated version of the one the Intelligent Division had used during the Fourth War, a machine that didn’t need more than one mind to keep it going. Ino booted the device and after she had installed the correct point of the compass into the machine, she put the transmitter on her head.

She put her hands into the Ram sign again, and with the help of the transmitter reached over the whole upper part of the continent. Hot Spring Country, Frost Country, Lightning Country, Iron Country, you name it.

Ino searched. And searched. For minutes.

“I can’t find him”, she whispered. “I – I can’t find my baby.”

His mind, his bright, bright wonderful mind, full of colours was not within her reach. His mind, which was filled with purples, pinks and blues wasn’t active.

“Inojin…” Ino said. “I can’t find him. He can’t be dead. No, no, no, not my baby!”

Ino yanked the transmitter headpiece away from her and stared up in Shikamaru and Choji’s eyes.

“I can’t find him!” she shrieked in their faces. She turned around and kicked the transmitter. “I can’t find him!”

“Ino, calm down”, Shikamaru said, forcing her to sit down on a bench. “Is there any possibility that he can block you out?”

“He has never done it before”, Ino said and covered her eyes with her hands. “Where’s Sai? I need to let him know.”

“Is there any possibility that one’s mind is inactive without being dead?” Shikamaru pressed on. “You must try finding Shikadai or Chocho.”

“Where is Sai?” Ino snarled at him. “We’re leaving to find them – “

“Ino!” Shikamaru shouted back. “Sit down, woman, and find Shikadai or Chocho instead.”

Ino growled while putting the transmitter back on her head, searching for her friends’ children instead. She was more familiar with Shikadai, of obvious reasons, and tried to find him first.

After a while she got a hit. She found a weak signal, and there, beside Shikadai, she finally sensed Inojin. Tears fell down her face out of relief, but at the same time worry surged in her stomach, because something was wrong. Shikadai’s mind felt skewed. Like something had changed him. Inojin’s mind was weakened, too, all purple and pink having faded into white. And when Ino concentrated – they were so far away – she felt Chocho, and she felt how her mind was scared.

“They – they have been tortured”, Ino whispered and that was enough for her friends to react with despair.

“Tortured?” Choji parroted. “My – my Chocho?”

“They’re scared”, Ino continued. “And Shikadai is hurt. Something’s wrong with him.”

“Can you talk to them?” Shikamaru asked, reaching for a cigarette he had in his pockets. He didn’t care that they were inside a building with no smoking-signs everywhere, he just had to get something that manifested him in the real world, to tell him that this wasn’t a dream, a nightmare.

Ino concentrated even more, trying to force her voice inside Inojin’s head. _Come one, my baby flower, let me in._

She failed.

“We have to get closer”, Ino snarled at her friends. “I don’t care if Naruto have the most important missions for us incoming, I will leave for Frost Country today. I will be able to find them if we get closer.” She removed the device and shut it off. “They are in danger.”

After they’d agree to travel to Frost Country as fast as possible, they scurried off to Shikamaru’s office. Naruto was in a meeting in another room, so Shikamaru let his friends inside. He stormed to the telephone.

“Okay, be quiet now”, Shikamaru hissed to the other two when he pressed a number. “I’m calling the Raikage.”

“The Raikage?” Choji echoed. “What – why?”

“They’re so much closer”, Shikamaru said. “They need to help us – oh, hello, Lord Raikage. Nara Shikamaru from Konoha calling. Are you able to talk right now? I have an urgent matter to t – yes? Oh, you know. Are you going to look for them? Have you heard anything from them? Yes, it’s my son. What do you mean you don’t have the resources?”

Shikamaru grew paler as he listened to the Raikage’s words. Ino and Choji waited irritably for the conversation to be over.

“Okay, I understand. Thank you. Goodbye.” Shikamaru slammed the phone shut and pressed his hands to his face. “Oh, god, this isn’t fucking happening.”

“What did he say?” Choji asked.

“They’re not helping us, not until the conference is over”, Shikamaru growled. “He said their jonin have their hands full with security in-village, they’ve had many demonstrations going on as their guests have been there, and he said that he isn’t sending any chunin on missions elsewhere right now.” He looked at Ino. “You’re right. We need to go get them ourselves. I’ll set things up with Naruto – Ino? Get Sai on hold. His winged beasts are the fastest way of transport as it is now. Choji? We need Karui’s orientation skills up North.”

“We are coming”, Choji assured.

“Good”, Shikamaru said. “I’ll bring Temari, too.”

They need to get their children into safety, and within an hour all six parents left Konoha for the cold, dark North to find whoever it was that took their children.

Inojin almost had a heart attack as the door to their cell opened. For the first time since he woke up from his overdose slumber, someone had walked into the cell. No, they weren’t ready yet! Inojin and Shikadai had spent the latest hour on trying to chart how well Inojin’s chakra had returned, and they practised the Mind Transfer Jutsu together. They found out that Inojin could possess someone for a very, very short time, as his chakra was still weak.

Soni peered inside, and Inojin had to make the super quick decision to attack her or not. He glanced at Chocho, who readied her with her kunai in the darkness.

_Distract her until Chocho’s ready._

He raised himself up and glared at Soni, who, to his surprise smiled at him.

“You seem alive”, she said, and then looked down at Shikadai. He just stared angrily back at her. “He seems alive, too.”

“Who sent that lightning?” Inojin growled at her. “It almost killed him.”

“That was an unfortunate mistake”, Soni said. “Just like your overdose. But you’re all a quite resilient bunch of children, so I have no fear that you’ll not survive.” She looked down at the almost empty plates. “And who hasn’t been eating their portion, huh?”

“He hasn’t”, Inojin quickly lied and put a hand on Shikadai’s shoulder. “He’s still too weak after the electricity.”

“Oh, is that so?” Soni asked, smiling. “Because the surveillance camera told me it was you.”

In that second, Chocho struck with her kunai.

And just as she was about to connect the kunai to Soni’s throat, Soni dodged under her and pressed two fingers into the inside of Chocho’s upper arm. A shockwave of pain throbbed through Chocho’s whole arm and she was forced to drop the kunai. Soni snatched the kunai before it had time to hit the floor and threw it straight at Inojin, who had formed his hands into the Mind Transfer signs. Inojin ducked and the kunai drilled into the wall behind where his head had been.

Soni got quickly behind Chocho and forced her arm into a joint lock behind her back.

“Do not move, or I’ll splinter the bones in her arm”, Soni threatened and Chocho whimpered from pain. Inojin let his arms fall lose.

“What did you do to my arm?” Chocho snarled. “You’re no Hyuuga, how do you know where the chakra points are?”

“Chakra points?” Soni growled. “You spoiled privileged shinobi can only see as far as your own god damn chakra. There’s more to the human body than chakra. There are bone, joints, tendons and nerves, too, and by striking them one can really manipulate the body. No need for chakra here, dumbasses. I just paralyzed your nerves in your arm by striking hard.” She paused, eyes staring at them and that was the look of a madman. They all shrunk a bit at the frightening sight. “A Hyuuga you say? I’ve heard of them. They are famous for their eyes; they can see through the body. Have you heard anything more bullshit of a privilege than that? Someone gets superpowers from birth! Hah! I would pluck those eyes out if I saw them.”

“You wouldn’t even come close!” Inojin hissed, thinking of Himawari and her eyes. She was eleven and sweet as a doll, but when she got mad – oh, then the enemy better run. “They would kill you before you even had a chance.”

He raised his hands again in the Mind Transfer sign, and Soni stiffened up. She lifted one arm and electricity fizzed around her hand. Shikadai backed straight into the wall behind him, paralyzed by fear. She was the one who almost killed him, he figured, and he wasn’t sure if he could keep himself from insanity if he had to go through that one more time. Inojin let his arms fall lose one more time.

“I can hit you again, you know”, Soni chuckled and Chocho stared at the white and blue bolts dangerously close to her hair.

“Please, no”, Inojin whispered.

“We’ll just have a nice little chat with your friend, that’s all”, Soni said. He grabbed Chocho by her joint locked arm and pushed her out of the cell. “We’ll come for you, too”, Soni added before pushing the cell door closed.

Shikadai let himself slide down the wall onto a sitting position. He lifted his arms to his head and clutched it.

“It was her”, Inojin noted when he was sure Soni was gone. “Damn it! She's the one who can create lightning.” He turned around to Shikadai. “Shikadai…”

“My head is still messed up”, Shikadai whispered. “I became so scared when I saw that lightning, I couldn’t even move. I – I have never frozen like that before.”

“It’s okay”, Inojin said gently to him. “I’m here.”

“It’s not okay!” Shikadai yelled. He kicked darkness in front of him and hit the back of his head in the wall behind him. “We can at least be happy that they won’t kill Chocho.” When Inojin looked quizzingly at him he sighed. “When you were still asleep from the overdose, they said that they needed us alive.”

“Need us alive for _what_?” Inojin asked

“If I knew, I'd tell you", Shikadai said. "They're going to use us for something."

Inojin sighed and sunk down on the floor beside Shikadai, who let his head rest on Inojin’s shoulder.

“Thank you”, Shikadai said so silently Inojin almost missed it. “Thank you for saving my life.”

Inojin held his hand in his own.

“I give all the credits to Chocho.”

“I’m sorry you had to waste chakra on me”, Shikadai continued in a silent mumbling. “If not, then you maybe would have enough chakra to make a proper Mind Transfer.”

“Don’t be sorry”, Inojin said. They sat in silence for a while. Inojin’s stomach grumbled and he glared at the plate with his food on it. He didn’t know it himself, because he had lost grasp of time since long, that he had been without food for close to 24 hours now.

“Inojin”, Shikadai said as he entwined their fingers. “When we come home again… let’s… let’s not hide it. This. Us. Whatever this is.”

“If we ever come home again”, Inojin said slowly.

“We will”, Shikadai said. “When… when I’m normal again, when this head injury goes away, then I’ll save you. I’ll kill them, like I said. And then, when we get home, we’ll be boyfriends. For real. If you want to.”

Their eyes met as Shikadai lifted his head again and Inojin raised his hand to brush some stray hairs from Shikadai’s face.

“Yes”, Inojin said, and after a few seconds he kissed Shikadai. “Yes, I want to.”

“I was almost scared for a second that you’d say no”, Shikadai sighed out of relief. “Don’t scare me like that –“

“Don’t scare you? Shikadai, you _died_ in front of me, there’s nothing I can do to scare you more than you’ve already scared me”, Inojin laughed.

“Hey! You almost died in front of me, too”, Shikadai said. “From the overdose, remember? God, I was _this_ scared.”

“Okay, deal”, Inojin teased. “You’re the scaredy-cat out of us two.”

Shikadai punched Inojin lightly in his bicep.

For the first time since they’d been taken capture, he allowed himself to feel at least something that wasn’t anxiety, dread or fear. His thoughts still didn’t run as he was used to and he tried to not look at the monsters his mind concocted in the corners of the cell and his body felt soar and burned, not to even start of how painful the wound in his leg was, but for this moment he just wanted to ignore the bad odds and concentrate on the only ray of sunlight in the darkness.

He leaned into Inojin, breathed in his scent and warmth.

“I love you, Inojin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The parents are finally on the case! Will they get there in time?
> 
> ( One of my bored doodles turned into a "teaser poster" for this fic, you can see it on my tumblr unioncolours.tumblr.com or here's the very long url https://unioncolours.tumblr.com/post/188920869375/save-me-from-fear-and-pain-and-love-will-rain-on )
> 
> And yes, there'll be 16 chapters instead of 15.


	9. Out of the frying pan into the fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, this is an emotional chapter.

Chocho stared at the group of people in front of her. She had been brought into a room and had her hands chained together in a very uncomfortable position behind her back, preventing her from using signs at all. All she could do was sitting there by some interrogation table.

A quick counting later she counted up to twelve people in the room, three of which had interacted with them before; Nora, Ibi and Soni.

“So, this is the Kumo girl”, one of the other people said.

“Is she weakened enough?” another asked.

“Will they be able to do it”, a third wondered.

“Oh, shut up, all of you”, Nora growled. “This is Akimichi Chocho, dual citizen of Konoha and Kumo, and she has been invited to the conference.” Nora whisked around Chocho’s invitation in the air so everyone could see. “And now, that she’s been introduced to us, we’ll introduce us to her.”

“I know who you are”, Chocho spat. “You’re the Bastards of Kumo, aren’t you?”

“Oh, she knows stuff”, Ibi laughed. “Smart girl.”

“Let me tell you the story of us”, Nora said. “I guess you’ve heard Kumo’s version of the ‘frightening terrorists’, the Bastards. The news spread bullshit; I tell you. We’re the ones the shinobi world forgot and pissed on. We were born out of your Fourth Ninja War, a war that ruined Frost Country. Those Tailed Beast Bombs destroyed the land, destroyed the fields and changed the courses of the rivers. Our mothers bore children out of rape. We’re all born in barns, ditches, basements. None of us come from fancy clans or have fancy eyes or fancy names and jutsus and whatever the fuck you have to verify your own worth, your own existence, we’re born out of piss and shit.”

Nora took a sharp breath and pinned Chocho down with her eyes.

“We’re also shinobi, you see”, she continued. “We were born with chakra, just like you, and we learned. But instead of attending a highly praised _Academy_ we learned to manipulate chakra ourselves. We are self-taught, through scrolls we’ve stolen, through rumours we’ve heard, through stalking other shinobi, through us being damn headstrong. We have worked so hard to get to the same point where you have come by being spoon-fed techniques.”

“I’m not spoon-fed”, Chocho tried.

“Don’t lie to me”, Nora snarled. “All shinobi who ever attend an Academy are spoon-fed, spoiled little shits, who know nothing about living in the worst possible condition in a raped country in a never-ending darkness. You learn to mould chakra when you’re six years old. I learned to do the same when I was fifteen.”

“So, you’re a shinobi, fine”, Chocho said. “Then walk into Shimo and tell them you’re up for work.”

Nora slapped Chocho in the face.

“Do you think we’ve not considered that option?” she asked. “Of course, we’ve asked and begged on our fucking knees for Shimo to take us in. ‘Please, let us attend the Academy, even if we’re too old’. They refused. They _refused. _They don’t have enough money to accept more ninjas than the ones already born into shinobi families, into that privilege. The feudal lords here are piss poor. So, do you know what kind of relief it was to hear that all nations are now taking applications for dual citizenship. We were thrilled. We could escape this hell hole.

But do you think Kumo would take us in? No. Of course not. All because we don’t have a fancy name. We don’t know who our fathers were, but we know we belong here in the North, in Kumo. They are so selfish.”

“I get that you hate me”, Chocho said. “Because I’ve got citizenship to Kumo and you were denied! So, you’ll kill me and make me a martyr and spread hate and fear among everyone with ties to Kumo, huh? It’s not Kumo who is selfish, it’s you! You and your whole gang of Bastards, you’re all selfish!”

“Kill you? No, no, no”, Nora said. “We won’t kill you, sweetheart. You’re going to attend the conference. The main seminar is tomorrow morning, and if we let you go now, you’ll reach it just in time.”

“What? What game are you playing?” Chocho asked. “Why go through the trouble of taking us hostage and drug us and almost kill us with lightning –“

“The lightning was a misfortune”, Nora cut Chocho off, glaring at Soni. “A stupid mistake. As compensation for that we’ll let Shikadai leave, too, to go with you to the conference.”

Chocho stared at her.

“And – and Inojin?” Chocho asked. “What about him?”

“Well, someone have to stay”, Nora chuckled. “Someone to give you motivation to not fuck things up. We need a leash for you, even if it’s only a metaphorical one. You and Shikadai will leave for the conference, and Inojin stays here. I promise we’ll let him go, unharmed, as long as you do what we ask of you.”

“And… what is it you ask of us?”

“All I ask of you is to attend the conference”, Nora said and nodded towards a big metal cabinet at the other end of the room, filled with paper bombs. Chocho stared at them, at the blue seals of the bombs. “And hide these bombs all over the facility. You can leave the building and save yourselves after that or die with the rest. Because that’s what you’re going to do, you and Shikadai. You’re going to perform a terror attack at that conference. Because if we can’t be dual citizens of Kumo, then no one is going to be. Otherwise we’ll kill Inojin.”

A moment later Shikadai was blindfolded brought up to the same room. He looked like he had put up with quite the fight, because Ibi who brought him up had Shikadai’s hair wrapped in his hand. Chocho wrinkled her nose in disgust at the man’s manner around Shikadai. The fact that he didn’t even lead Shikadai by his arm or something, but by his hair said so much about how Ibi didn’t see Shikadai as an equal but as an animal, a prisoner.

He literally threw Shikadai at the chair besides Chocho.

“Ouch”, Shikadai whispered, when he didn’t catch the chair but fell on the floor. It is not easy to catch a chair when being thrown at one when you are blindfolded and have the arms chained behind the back. The man took Shikadai by his hair again and helped him up on the chair.

The look of it was awfully like the drunk lady at the pub in Frost Country where a man had lifted her up by her hair into the chair again and it made Chocho sick.

“Are you okay?” Chocho silently asked.

“No!” Shikadai spat. “They took Inojin!”

He was bleeding from his nose. His blindfold was taken off and he squeezed his eyes at the strong light around the table.

“Hi, Shikadai”, Nora said.

“I’m going to kill you!” Shikadai snarled at her. “Where did you take Inojin? Give him back!”

“Ooh, bloodthirst”, Nora chuckled. “I like that. Fear not, Shikadai, soon you’ll be a murderer.”

Shikadai stared at her, as blood dripped down his chin. He tried to wipe it away by rubbing his chin against his shoulder, smearing it out even more. Nora leaned over the table, to everyone’s surprise, with a clean napkin. Shikadai jerked his head away.

“Let me”, Nora said firmly. Then she moved her hand closer to his face and wiped the blood away.

By letting her touch his face, Shikadai surrendered. He stopped resisting.

“I want to let Inojin go”, Nora said. “I want him alive just as much as you want him. You really, really like him, don’t you? I’ve seen it on the cameras, you see.”

“Then why don’t you _let him go_?” Shikadai asked. “Please. What do you want from us?”

“I want you to attend the conference”, Nora said and Shikadai stared at her in disbelief. She rose up and brought one of the paper bombs to the table. “And you’ll hide these all over the building. Only after you’ve exploded the building were the participants of the conference are, and only then, will we let Inojin go unharmed. If you refuse, we kill him.”

Shikadai stared at the paper bomb, feeling shivers going down his spine. He glanced up at the people around him and a delusional fear ran through him when he met Soni’s eyes. What if she tried to hit him again with the lightning? That paralyzing fear grabbed him again and made it hard to breathe.

“Have – have you agreed to this?” Shikadai asked Chocho, who stared down at the floor. She gritted her teeth and wrinkled her entire face.

“Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon friends are worse than scum”, she recited, with a voice that could break hearts. Shikadai remembered were he had learned that line, in fact, he had read it a thousand times. Every day before attending class of his Academy days he had thrown a lazy gaze at the mantra that was painted on the wall above their classroom’s door.

Someone had once said that every classroom should have that specific line somewhere visible, so all Academy students could absorb the message without it sounding like nagging. That was a remnant from the Sixth Hokage’s reign and he had apparently been very specific about this. Uchiha Obito’s words were to be adapted by every genin, otherwise they wouldn’t graduate.

And Shikadai knew what it meant. It meant to fuck up the mission, if you needed to help your friend. To abandon the rules, to mud one’s honour.

_I won’t abandon my comrades_, he heard in his head. That was the Seventh Hokage’s voice. In many of Naruto’s speeches, and in his private life, he had spoken of how important friends are, that you should never give up on saving friends. His legacy from the war was something everyone had heard at some point, how he saved everyone. How he had once saved Shikamaru from a sure death.

And Shikamaru had many times almost sacrificed himself, as a chunin, as a jonin, for friends. And not every time even for friends, but for _comrades. _Shikamaru had once become captive when he tried to save Sai, who he wasn’t even that close friends with. Shikadai knew of the great deeds, where almost everyone one generation above him had done incredibly strong and amazing things to save friends and family.

Was becoming a terrorist one of the things his father would do to save a friend? To save Naruto? To save Choji or Ino? To save Temari – no, never mind, mum doesn’t need saving, but anyone else?

Inojin. He heard his voice in his head, from that time when they had seen the sayings on the wall for the first time, at very first day of school.

“We’re going to be assassins one day”, Shikadai had said to Inojin. “Why are they preaching this to us?”

“Because it’s shinobi code”, Inojin had answered. “You can fix your honour, you can fix your mistakes, but a dead friend? That’s something you can’t fix. And they want us to know it. A good friend is one who don’t let others down.”

Shikadai lowered his gaze, staring into the table.

They are trying to break him down. And they are succeeding at that.

One of the women behind Nora lifted his bag off the floor, and stuffed it full of the paper bombs in front of him. All he did was watching. He didn’t have the energy to make a scene.

“We’ll give all your belongings back to you”, Nora said and nodded towards the wall behind her, were Shikadai’s fan was neatly leaning. Chocho’s rucksack and katana was there, too. Shikadai bit the inside of his lip when he noticed Inojin’s bag and tanto laying at the floor. He should not be left behind. He can’t be left behind. “And the bombs, of course.”

He was brought back to reality by the reminder of what they expected of them.

“We can’t leave him…” Shikadai whimpered.

“I’m the team leader”, Chocho said, but there was no conviction in her tone. She sounded small and scared. “And we’re doing this.”

“They’re going to execute us”, Shikadai mumbled. Chocho hit his shin with her foot and he looked angrily up at her. “What? We can’t just do that and expect to get away with it. That’s madness, Chocho, this is madness, we _can’t _do it.”

“Okay then”, Nora said. “If you say so. Soni, can you please go down to Blondie and kill him.”

“No!”

Shikadai stood up and jumped from his chair, trying to, in one last desperate attempt do anything to stop that sadistic lightning woman from leaving the room, but it was not easy when his arms were chained behind his back in a joint lock. Ibi grabbed his hair again and pressed him down on the floor.

Just as Ibi stepped on his head, pressing firmly his shoe against Shikadai’s temple, both he and Chocho shouted the same thing.

“We’ll do it!” came out of Chocho’s mouth.

“I’ll do it!” came out of Shikadai’s mouth.

There were a few moments of silence, and both of their words filled the air with a heavy mood. It was so silent everyone could hear a pin drop.

Shikadai laid on the floor, holding his breath, and Chocho sat, paralyzed by fear, by the table. The thought of the Bastards killing Inojin was too much. Chocho opened her mouth.

“I decide we’re doing it, Shikadai”, she said. “We can’t let Inojin die.”

Shikadai let out a long sigh. He gave up his struggling and, in that moment, he decided to give up on everything. This was not supposed to happen, but there was no space in his brain to think of what he could have done _differently_ to avoid this situation. He had had two days and nights to mull over this miserable situation and after his lightning shock he found it too exhausting to reflect.

The only option left was to adapt. Adapt to their demands and try to figure a way to fool them into thinking they succeed in their task to perform a terror attack, and then figure a way to save Inojin.

Or then he could just do it. Sacrifice his own honour, conscience and future for Inojin’s sake.

“Good girl”, Nora said and rose from her chair. “But you have to understand that we can’t trust your words alone. In an ideal world you would march inside the conference hall and do everything we’ve told you on the spot, but I can’t trust you. I can trust in your fear of having Inojin’s blood on your conscience, but how can we be certain you don’t spill to the guards? Ibi, please, stop using Shikadai as a rug and let him sit by the table.”

Ibi lifted Shikadai up to the chair again, and Soni, who leaned against the door frame with a sadistic smile on her face, got a death glare by Shikadai. During that time Nora brought two shackles to the table.

They were not made of metal, but of some kind of plastic and a bristly fabric. Wires wound along the sides of the shackles.

“Give me your leg”, Nora snarled at Chocho, and she obeyed like a beaten dog. Nora wrapped the shackle around her ankle and shut it, straining it extra tight. Chocho bit the inside of her cheek to avoid groaning at the extreme tightness of the shackle. Nora moved over to Shikadai, drawing his pants up a bit to fasten the shackle around his ankle. He wrinkled his face in a grimace when she closed it, tight.

“They’re trackers”, Nora muttered. “Through these, we’ll check that you are on your position. We will follow you live, as you walk into the conference hall. You may maybe think that removing them would solve the problem, but no. Once these are put on, there’s no way of removing them without cutting through them. And it’s impossible to cut through them without slicing the wires. Do you know what happens when you cut the wires?”

“They send you a signal”, Shikadai mumbled, having already figured out how those trackers work.

“Good boy”, Nora said. “And if we’re being informed you’ve removed your trackers, your friend dies.”

She held a dramatic pause, looking at her victims.

“We have spies in Kumo”, Nora said. “They’ll be waiting for you and they will make sure you finish the task given to you. Otherwise… well, you know the drill by now. Inojin dies. I guess that concludes this meeting. On behalf of all of Bastards of Kumo, I promise to keep my word of letting Inojin go unharmed as long as you keep your part of the deal. Ibi, Soni – if you please escort our guests – ”

“I want to see him”, Shikadai said, feeling a frustrated blush cover his face. “Before we leave, please, let me see him.”

“No”, Nora said.

“Please.” This time it was Chocho who took Shikadai’s part. “Let him see Inojin. You’ve tortured him enough.”

Nora moved her pinched lips from one side of her face to the other side, weighing the options. They did indeed look pretty cute when looking like beaten puppies.

“Fine”, she then said. “Put a blindfold on him.” She turned to Chocho. “But you stay here.”

Not even having time to share eye contact with Chocho, Shikadai found himself being blindfolded again. Ibi lifted him up and pushed him to walk in front of him. Shikadai forced himself to walk with confidence, though he constantly held his breath when walking in complete darkness down flights of stairs and over thresholds.

He heard how a heavy door opened after a few locks had been opened by rattling keys. Ibi pushed him into the cell with a force that made him overcompensate his balance and fall on his knees. He cursed at his own vulnerability.

“Two minutes”, Ibi said. “Then you’re leaving.”

Shikadai tilted his head upwards, not knowing where to point his face. All he saw was darkness.

“Inojin?” he asked. “Are you here?”

“Yes.”

Inojin put his own forehead against Shikadai’s. Their noses touched and Shikadai gritted his teeth and tried to keep himself together, tried to think of that future they had just an hour before this fantasied about together. He wanted that future _so badly_ an ugly sob ripped from this throat.

“You’re crying”, Inojin said tenderly.

“Inojin, they want us to attack the conference”, Shikadai whispered. “And if we refuse, you die. I can’t do anything; my hands are tied. I’m still messed up, oh god, Inojin, I’m so messed up I don’t know what to do.”

“I know”, Inojin said quietly. Seconds passed before he opened his mouth again. “You can sacrifice me.”

Shikadai opened his eyes wide in horror, only to feel his eyelashes being pressed backwards by the blindfold. The joints in his arms were riddled with pain by now as he jerked at the shocking words of Inojin’s.

“No”, he said. “No, no, no, I won’t do that. I won’t – you’ll survive. We’ll live together, don’t you remember what we talked about?”

“I can’t let you kill people”, Inojin said and gently nudged Shikadai’s nose with his own.

“This is so fucked up.” Shikadai pressed his forehead harder against Inojin’s. “I don’t have a plan, Inojin. No plan! I always have a plan, always. But I can’t _think!_ Ever since that lightning – I don’t know what to do, please, you have to help me.”

“Everything is going to be okay”, Inojin whispered to him. “Trust me, please, everything will be fine. Just don’t do it.”

“Life as a missing-nin doesn’t sound so bad if I get to live it with you”, Shikadai said, with a small desperate chuckle.

“Shikadai, sweetie –“

“Time’s up”, Ibi said and grabbed Shikadai’s wrists, forcing him up. The door closed but Inojin could still hear Shikadai scream from the other side.

“Inojin! I won’t let them kill you!”

His sound was muffled, probably by a hand, and moments later any sound has reduced to silence. Inojin sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead. Then he put his hands together in the Ram sign, focusing on Shikadai’s chakra, because now for the first time since the overdosing, his chakra was in such a state that he could do it.

He found Shikadai’s mind, and it was pitch black in there, with electrical sparks and bright yellows and his mind was so drowned in primal fear that Inojin felt sick penetrating his integrity, but he had to do it.

He tried to tell Shikadai to _Calm down, sweetie, I have a plan _but –

He was kicked out of Shikadai’s mind, which is a thing that happens easily when the target is scared, and Inojin wasn’t good enough at the Mind Body Transfer jutsu yet. Hell, he and Ino had started training a just a little over a week ago.

And Inojin wished from the bottom of his heart that Shikadai and Chocho didn’t do it. He had a plan. He was not going to be some sacrificial lamb in this, he was going to escape.

He tried to reach Shikadai again but was unable to find him. He tried again with Chocho, with no results. Shit. Did they leave the building already?

_Please Shikadai, don’t do it, _Inojin thought into the void. _Don’t fall in their trap. I’ll escape once my chakra has returned to its fullest. Please have faith in me._

The air outside was so cold breathing hurt in their lungs and the small hairs in their nostrils froze within minutes. Chocho felt how their bags were thrown at their feet and he heard Shikadai’s little _ouch_ after his iron fan hit him in the chest.

“Remember the deal”, Nora said. “Destroy the conference. We know if you succeed and we know if you abandon the plan. Hopefully you’ll be reunited with Inojin, and if you’re quick enough you might see him tomorrow night already.”

She got closer and put her hands on their shoulders.

“Shikadai, there’s a map over the conference hall in your bag”, she said. “There you can see which rooms are suitable for planting the bombs in.” She drew them even closer. “And if you’re scared, wait until the sun goes down. The gods can’t see in the dark, and there is no fear in the dark. When the sun goes down, so do you.”

She let them go, and Soni and Ibi opened the chains simultaneously around Chocho and Shikadai’s arms, releasing them from the joint lock they’ve been locked in. Shikadai ignored the stiff pain in his arms as he raised them to rip off the blindfold and he managed to do it just in time to see Nora, Soni and Ibi shunshin away, leaving them alone in the snowy wilderness.

“No!” he shouted at thin air, dashing to the place Nora and the others left. The snow was so fluffy and light that even the slightest wind moved the snowflakes, covering their footprints.

They had been shunshinned out of the building, away from where Inojin was, into a snowy scenery of in-the-middle-of-nowhere. He had no idea where they were, and no idea from where they had been moved. The cell containing Inojin could be just on the other side of the mountain, or somewhere completely else, and he had no clue.

Chocho stared around her. They stood on a hill, wind howling around them, with a splendid view over a wasteland covered in snow and ice. Her inner compass and sense of directions were completely broken, and the sky was covered by a grey mass of clouds. Even if nightfall was upon them, they wouldn’t be able to see any stars to look for guidance. They were lost.

“They just dropped us”, she whispered after trying to piece the puzzle together. They had walked by the main road, not too far from the border of Lightning Country when her memory went all fuzzy and then they had woken up in a cell. So, they had to still be in Frost Country, because the border was covered in an invisible wall of chakra, and there was no way to shunshin through it. Especially if one uses self-taught shunshin techniques.

Shikadai had walked a little bit down the hill, only to slump down on his butt, trying to form snowballs. The snow was, however, too light and dry for snowballs, and it fell apart in his hands. Chocho picked up his fan that he had left and followed him.

“Shikadai…” she said and dropped the fan by his side.

“Where the fuck are we?” he muttered and threw away the snow he had in his hands. “Where did we come from?”

“I don’t know”, Chocho said. “But we can’t stay here. We need to get to Lightning Country. We need to get to safety, Shikadai, we need food!”

“Is food really all there is on your mind, Chubs?” Shikadai snarled. “Inojin is back there, and he’s in danger. We have to save him!”

“And if they see on our trackers that we’re trying to find their base, they’ll cut his throat immediately”, Chocho said. “We have to act like we’re still on the deal.”

“Act? You said that we were going to do it”, Shikadai said.

“Yeah? Of course, I said stuff like that, hell, Nora was there in front of us!” Chocho said. “I had to lie.”

The was a moment’s pause, a pause just long enough for Chocho to notice the dark shadow flash across Shikadai’s eyes. There was something in his gaze that Chocho had never seen before, a terrifying fury that looked so unfamiliar in his green eyes.

“Did you… did you think I meant it for real?” she asked carefully. “About committing to that attack?”

Shikadai didn’t answer.

“Shikadai.” Chocho swallowed. “You’re not thinking about doing that for real, aren’t you?”

“Whatever I need to do to save him”, Shikadai said. He rose from the snow-covered ground and locked the fan onto his back. “You’re right. We can’t just search blindly for their hideout. We need to get to that conference.”

He slid down the mountain side and started walking in a random direction.

“Shikadai, wait!” Chocho yelled behind him. “We need a plan. We need to have the same goal here.” She caught up to him and shook him lightly. “What is wrong with you? You always have a plan; you hate working without a plan.”

Shikadai gave her a death glare and Chocho paled a bit. Shikadai was not himself. Something had changed within him. Suddenly, she felt fear crawl up her spine.

“You know what, Chubs”, he said. “I always have a plan because that is what is expected of me. Ever since I can remember dad has indoctrinated me with thinking ahead, having a plan. People look at me and see my dad or my granddad instead of me. They think automatically ‘Oh a Nara, he must be a genius just like his father’. But I’m not. I’m no genius. I have plans, because you _never_ bother to come up with one on your own! You’re always so dependent on me that I’m forced to make the plans. And I’m tired, Chocho, so fucking tired.”

“I have come up with plans before, but you’ve always dismissed them because they haven’t been good enough for you!” Chocho snapped.

“They were war generals”, Shikadai mumbled. “Dad and granddad. Managed to just in a whim come up with great mastermind plans to save the world, even if they were under enormous pressure.”

He kicked the snow with his foot.

“I am trained into finding ways out of trouble”, Shikadai continued. “My dad used to always tell me no matter how hard a situation can be, there’s always a way out. He uses shogi as an example, but now when thinking about it… How naïve of me isn’t it to actually have believed that? Shogi is a game. A fucking game! And my videogames, whenever I mess up, I just reload the last save. There are no stakes in gaming, but this, this is real life. And you know what, Chocho? I’m trapped. I can’t think of a way to fix this. They have spies there, Chocho, they’re going to tattle on us if we fake. We can tell the guards, we can evacuate the building, but they will kill Inojin for it. I can’t rage quit this! I can’t reload some save! I am _trapped_.”

Chocho grabbed his hand.

“There has to be a way”, she said. “Please, Shikadai, don’t give up now. Let’s get to the border first, we need safety and warmth.”

“I’m good at giving up.”

“Shikadai, please”, Chocho insisted. “Let’s go this way. I think that mountain over there is the one where the border is.”

She dragged him with her and they walked in silence. Shikadai felt for the bombs in his bag, taking one out to look at it. The seal was written in blue ink instead of the regular red or black. Blue ink.

Its detonation is going to be stronger, he realized. These were no tiny bombs for diversion he was carrying; these were bombs designed to bring down buildings.

One could almost, _almost_, argue that Chocho and Shikadai were in a situation to be paralleled to the one Uchiha Itachi had once been in. Itachi had been pressured into a deal, in which he had to act with the greater good in mind. He had chosen his actions out of utilitarianism; to maximise the happiness of the biggest amount of people. And to avoid a civil war, in which most of Konoha would suffer greatly, he had chosen to sacrifice his own clan and family.

He had acted for the greater good.

If Shikadai and Chocho acted with utilitarianism in mind, they would see Inojin be sacrificed without a second thought. They’d rather live with his blood on their conscious than cause a butchery of 28 dual citizens and their teammates.

But not even the great Uchiha Itachi could completely act out of utilitarianism. He had saved his little brother out of love. Love, selfish and foolish love wins over reason and facts, over the greater good.

Love is a pathological state. One does the most outrageous things for love.

And there’s nothing burning brighter than teenage love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did any of you guess/suspect that THIS was the ultimate motive for kidnapping a team about to attend the conference?
> 
> The moment between Shikadai and Inojin is one of my favourites, but there are many more good (and way less sad) scenes upcoming between those two.
> 
> But most importantly... will they do it?


	10. Delusions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I am extremely nervous about this chapter.
> 
> **TW:** Mental disorder****

Inojin woke up, aghast at the realization that he’d fallen asleep. He didn’t think it was possible, livid as he was, but at the same time – he was so weak from the hunger strike. He hadn’t been offered food since Shikadai was hit by the lightning. The only thing he had gotten was a cup of water, and he suspected that the Bastards of Kumo started to put his plan against him. Even if he gained his chakra back, would he be too hungry to get things done?

He wasn’t aware of this, but he had been 36 hours without food, with only a splash of water.

He positioned himself in the meditating pose, gathering chakra to his hands and head. His chakra was now up to one hundred percent, but he felt lightheaded and tired from the hunger.

How many hours had passed since Shikadai and Chocho were taken away, forced into action?

Inojin put his hands in the Ram sign and felt himself being aware of dozens of chakra systems around in the building. They all felt weird, like working, completely real chakra systems, but something was… off.

Inojin found himself feeling around in the uncanny valley. These people had been raised as civilians, and only as teens had started to use and train their chakras. With no teachers and no theory to base their practise on, they had all formed unique, but wrong ways of using their chakra.

If the lightning attack had been a pure “incident”, then it had to be because the user was unable to control their powers. Because they could be extremely powerful, if they had been taught chakra control right. Some of them had humongous chakra reserves, and Inojin was sure that one of them was Nora. Born into the right conditions… they could have been trained into heroes.

Bastards of Kumo, born by violence and bred by hate.

Inojin released his jutsu and rose into standing position. He stared at the lamp in the corner, and now when his chakra was finally restored to its full potential, he could _sense_ the genjutsu above the lamp. By focusing chakra into his feet and hands, he climbed up the wall to the lamp.

“Release”, he said, and the genjutsu trembled before falling apart. Behind the genjutsu he found himself staring into the eye of the surveillance camera. He shoved his hand into the drilled hole the camera was stationed in and _ripped_ it out.

He jumped down onto the floor without letting his grip of the camera go, where he smashed it to the floor, tearing the wires apart.

That was probably enough to make them move.

He positioned himself right in front of the door, to be ready when they come. If they shoot lightning from the little opening in the roof, fine, then he was ready to die, but he suspected they wouldn’t.

He sensed a person moving closer to the door. It was neither Nora nor Soni, but someone else.

_Okay, Inojin, it’s now or never. Remember how to focus chakra, you have only one chance._

The door opened and a girl Inojin hadn’t seen before stood on the other side of it. She didn’t even have a chance to strike with her kunai before Inojin had shaped his hands into a square and cast his jutsu upon her.

“Ninja Art! Mind Destruction Jutsu!”

The girl stared in shock at Inojin as his mind forced hers into something she never had experienced before.

“What – what are you doing?” she whispered as she unwillingly raised the kunai up to her throat. “Stop it! Stop it!”

“You hurt my friends”, Inojin said. “And you hurt me. Tell me where Nora is, or I’ll kill you.”

“I don’t know”, the girl said. “I swear, I don’t know, the leaders have gone somewhere else. I’m not high enough in the hierarchy to know where they are. Please, what are you doing? Please, don’t kill me!”

_They have left for Kumo_, Inojin thought to himself. _I am too late._

“You would’ve killed me”, he simply said and forced the girl to walk into his cell while he walked out of it.

“No – no!” the girl yelled. “Soni would’ve, I’m not – please, don’t do it – “ She pressed, on Inojin’s command, the kunai closer to her skin, ripping it open.

In that moment, Inojin reflected. Would he be able to do it? Just a little tweak in the chakra, and she would commit suicide on his command.

Should he spare her life? Should he not? She would definitely tattle to Soni and word would spread, and that would put Shikadai and Chocho in danger.

Inojin closed the door of the cell, locking her inside, and tweaked his chakra in her brain just enough. Her screams rattled in his eardrums, while he walked up the stairs. He had not made her kill herself. He could not do it.

He had only made her cut out her own tongue.

Inojin smiled to himself. He was not going to be useless. He was not going to be a burden. Those days were over now, he decided. He was going to prove to everyone that he could be just as cruel as a shinobi had to be.

He found more empty rooms and to his delight the kitchen. He opened cupboards and found to his delight cooked rice. He ate everything he found, every single grain. He drank from the tap until he wasn’t thirsty anymore and found some pears that he put in the pockets of his jacket before heading to the next room.

His bag was there.

“Yes”, Inojin mumbled for himself when he opened it and counted the brushes, scrolls and ink bottles that were neatly put in there. Someone had even reorganized his clothes and placed them in neatly folds. “Damn it.” He couldn’t find his identity document, nor his wallet, anywhere. His forehead protector was also nowhere in sight.

There was no time to look for them, so he grabbed a painting brush, dripping in ink, and a scroll and ran for the outer door. He needed to get to Shikadai and Chocho before they reached the conference.

“Shikadai”, Chocho said. “Look! The border stations! We made it.”

They had walked along the invisible chakra wall for quite some time in the increasing bad weather and finally – _finally _– they found their target. The border stations. A gate in the wall and a little station up on the hill, that continued into the mountain. Chocho stumbled up to the gate with Shikadai slouching after her, and a guard opened the door from the station.

“Stop! Who are you?” he asked.

“I have the invitation!” Chocho cried out and whisked her invitation out of the rucksack. “The invitation – the conference – Akimichi Chocho. I’m here. We’re here.”

“Wait, wait”, the guard said. “Come inside here. We’ll talk more there.”

He showed them inside the station, a cosy little office with lit candles and a TV. A mindless soap opera flickered on the TV-screen and the guard turned it off. He gestured to two chairs, and Chocho and Shikadai slumped down on them.

“You want something to drink?” the guard asked.

“Hot chocolate!” Chocho yelled, and when they got served the steaming hot drink and some biscuits, both gorged down everything that they had in front of them.

“Show me your ID:s”, the guard said, after observing them for a moment and they placed them on the table for him to inspect. He looked carefully at them, at the kids and then back at their pictures in the ID-papers. He double checked the list of invitees before he looked at them again. “Where have you been all this time?”

“We got lost”, Chocho said. “Please, let us go to the conference. There’s still the final seminar today, right? I’d like to attend it.”

“Where is the third teammate?” the guard asked. “My papers say that Yamanaka Inojin is supposed to join you.”

“The nights were dark and full of terrors”, Shikadai mumbled. “We lost him.”

“Is he still out there, alone?” the guard asked, with increasing worry in his voice.

“Yes”, Shikadai said, squirming in his seat. “Why do you think we were so late? We searched for him everywhere, but the Frost had taken him.”

“Were you not dressed for the weather?” the guard wondered, assuming Shikadai had meant the weather and not the country. “I can summon a search party, but I’m afraid we have to wait until after the conference. Everyone is there now.” He sighed deeply. “Hypothermia is one of the better deaths out there.”

This sounded exactly like the shinobi in Suna, Shikadai thought. Each time someone got lost in the desert, people sighed, and _knew_ they weren’t coming back. It was easy to die in the desert; just as easy as it was to die in the dark winters of the North. The only difference was that dying out of a heatstroke and thirst was a nasty death.

“Hm”, the guard continued. “Well, I guess there’s a truth in what those Shimors always say, that the gods can’t see in the dark.”

“When will the sun set?” Shikadai asked.

“In a few hours”, the guard said. “Very well. I’ll send a message that you’re on your way. Do you find the way from here on? We have at least electrical lamps along our roads, so you don’t need any stars.”

“Thank you”, Chocho said. “Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for the hot chocolate, we’ll be on our way.”

“Are you sure you are okay?” the guard then asked. “You don’t seem so well.”

“Thank you, we’re just a little upset about our friend”, Chocho said. “We just have to get to the village.”

“Are you really, really sure?” the guard pressed on.

“Yes”, Shikadai said, but his voice said otherwise.

Chocho yanked Shikadai with her out of the station in Lightning Country. The guard looked at their backs as they left the station and his intuition said that something was indeed wrong. He looked down in his papers and found that the name of their contact person was Omoi. He clicked on the TV again, and when the episode was finished, he lifted the telephone and phoned Omoi.

Chocho took a deep breath. “Soon we’ll reach Kumo. Oh god, I just want to fall asleep in a soft bed. And eat! I’m so hungry I could die.”

“Let’s get to that conference”, Shikadai said, not looking at her.

“Do you have a plan?” Chocho asked.

“Yes.”

“What is it? Tell me.”

“You have an important part in this plan”, Shikadai said. “To stay away from me.”

Chocho stopped immediately, tears prickling out of her eyes.

“Shikadai!” she yelled. “What has happened to you? This is not you!”

“You know what has happened to me”, Shikadai said, oddly calmly.

“The old Shikadai would never do it. He would never even consider killing innocent people. Believe me, there is another way. We can _fix this_ if you just allow yourself to think outside the box. You’re usually good at this, Shikadai, please”, Chocho said.

“I won’t ever be able to forgive myself if Inojin dies”, Shikadai said, staring in front of him. “I should have been able to figure out that someone might want to ruin the conference. I should have been able to hear whoever it was that shot us. I should have been able to find out a way for us to escape. But I didn’t. And that lightning – “

“Shikadai, don’t beat yourself up”, Chocho said. “It’s also my fault. I should have taken this more seriously; I should have known –“

“I’ve tried, Chocho! I’m this close to just throw the bombs away and just do nothing, but they’ll know”, Shikadai hissed. “And I – I can’t stop thinking about him. How he’s alone there in that cold cell, like some animal ready to be butchered. I can’t stop myself, Chocho, and it hurts! It hurts everywhere.”

“It hurts me too –“

“No, you don’t get it”, Shikadai yelled, and his voice was rapidly picking up sound level. His thoughts spun around in his head and he felt _sick_. “He is – we were supposed to – I get that he’s your friend, but to me… he is my boyfr – hell, I _love him_!”

His puberty voice cracked at the final line like a stick snapping and his loud voice echoed in the valley.

Panic hit him like a baseball bat in his face and he felt a hot flush cover him. Like someone put earplugs in his ears his hearing disappeared, and he had to sit down, otherwise he’d faint. Chocho sat by him and she patiently waited for the panic attack to fade.

“Not this shit again”, Shikadai mumbled after he had collected himself. “I can’t do this…”

“Get up”, Chocho said, gently but with a definite determination. “We need to get to the village quickly. Just a few kilometres left.”

They made it to the village. The gates were open and the whole main street was lit by many lamps, normal electricity ones but also neon ones. Because of all the guest the village was expecting, signposts were placed at strategic places to tell the way to the conference hall. Before walking up the steep stairs along a mountain side to the big conference hall, they headed to a food stall and bought whatever they had. Grilled oxen meat on a stick was the first thing listed on the menu and they devoured it. With at least not a screaming hunger they made their way to the conference hall. The yard outside the building was decorated with ice sculptures, and the view was splendid over the frozen sea.

“Shikadai, whatever you do, don’t do anything without telling me, okay?” Chocho whispered as they walked inside. A guard approached them immediately.

“ID and invitation, please”, he said and Chocho hauled out the invitation, as well as her ID. Shikadai handed wordlessly over his ID-papers as well. “Oh, you’re the Konohans. We expected you three days ago, we didn’t think you’d make it.”

“Well, here we are”, Chocho said. “Listen, we had a little incident on the way here – “

“Our teammate got really sick”, Shikadai interrupted, glaring daringly at Chocho. “But nothing else. He made it to safety. He is safe. We came here, just the two of us.”

“Eh, okay. Well, you came just in time for the final seminars and the dinner”, the guard said. “Open your bags, please. You must go through a standard security check before I can let you inside.”

Shikadai felt how all warmth inside his body vanished in a flush as he clutched his bag. Chocho eyed him as she handed over her rucksack to the guard, who professionally went through it.

“What are you looking for?” Chocho asked.

“Tracking devices, recording cameras”, the guard said. “In case some of the Bastards are trying to record and find out what is being discussed. We don’t want them here, you see. We’ve also confiscated all kinds of bombs, smoke bombs and all that jazz. I’ll move over to your body now, if it’s okay.”

Chocho held out her arms and by some kind of miracle the guard didn’t press his hands that hard against her legs, missing the tracking shackle around her ankle. She tried to communicate to Shikadai with her gaze to just _tell the truth, Shikadai,_ but he looked away. She opened her mouth, but… She chickened out. Her fear was too great.

Shikadai’s bag was filled with bombs. Sixteen strong, powerful paper bombs sealed in blue ink, that screamed suspicion and terror attack. Bombs this powerful were not basic shinobi equipment. These bombs were something ANBUs on missions would use on evaluated targets, not something a chunin randomly carried around in huge amounts.

His hands started shaking. He couldn’t make them stop. _Please, stop shaking, stop it!_ The guard finished his security check on Chocho, and turned over to Shikadai, whose whole body was shaking at this point. He couldn’t let that guard catch the bombs. If he did, then the Bastards would know and Inojin would die.

“Chocho?” a voice called from the other side of the longue. “Chocho, is that you?”

“Omoi!” Chocho shouted and dashed up to the man approaching them. “We came!”

“Oh my god, Chocho”, he cried when he hugged him hard. Shikadai stared at them, at their loving hug and the white-haired man. Anger bubbled up in his body. So, that was Omoi, huh? Omoi, that he and Inojin were going to meet, to talk about _those_ kinds of stuff, together, as a couple.

And Inojin wasn’t here. Inojin was still a prisoner somewhere in Frost Country.

“Let him pass, D”, Omoi said. “He’s with Chocho.”

Shikadai saw his chance, and slinked past the guard, without having the guard delve around in his bag. He was still shaking and probably pale as a ghost, when he shook hands with Omoi.

“Where have you guys been?” Omoi asked. “I’ve been so worried; I called your mama and everything. They’re on their way here as we speak.”

“Is mama on her way here?” Chocho asked.

“Yes”, Omoi confirmed. “And your papa is also coming.”

“Oh”, Chocho said, throwing a worried glance at Shikadai. “Did you hear that? My parents are coming here. Wait – are they passing Frost Country?”

Suddenly, another woman, Nebui, entered the lounge, startling them all.

“Oh, the Konohans arrived”, Nebui noted. “The last seminar did begin a minute ago, hurry up.”

“But they – “ Omoi started.

“They have missed three days’ worth of seminars and workshops and now that they’re finally here, why are you holding them up? There’s plenty of time to change words afterwards during the dinner” she snorted. “Akimichi Chocho, I presume. Welcome. This way.” Her stern voice didn’t allow backtalking and Chocho let Omoi go.

Chocho started walking after Nebui and Shikadai followed them like a lost puppy.

“Shikadai”, Omoi said and Shikadai almost leapt out of his own skin. Had he figured it out already? “This final seminar is divided where the Kumor citizens are in one seminar and the teammates are in another. Come this way, I’ll show you.”

Chocho opened her mouth to object, but was silenced by Nebui, who insisted she would follow her. Shikadai saw her leave through a door and in that second, it felt like all hope was lost. They walked down a corridor and Shikadai wondered if Omoi at all noticed how nervous he was.

“Where’s Inojin?” Omoi then asked and it was a miracle that Shikadai didn’t start crying.

“He never came”, Shikadai lied instead, biting the insides of his cheeks. “He stayed at home.”

“What took you so long?”

“We – we got lost”, Shikadai said and his voice was shivering. Omoi raised an eyebrow.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes”, Shikadai said. “I’m just really hungry.”

“Oh”, Omoi said, hauling a lollipop out of his pocket. “You can eat this. And you can tell me the truth, you know. I know Inojin left with you, I’ve talked to Karui.”

Shikadai accepted the lollipop and put it in his mouth, looking at the marble floor.

“We had a fight and he went back home”, he just lied.

“Who’s this?”

Shikadai looked up to stare a guard in the face.

“Nara Shikadai of the Sand”, Omoi said. “He’s from the Konohan team, who didn’t arrive on time. They’re here now.”

The guard raised his eyebrows and then chuckled a bit.

“Well, well, Shikadai”, he said. “Welcome. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Maybe the guard was just trying to pull a weird jest. Maybe he just didn’t know what to say in that moment and wanted to sound nice.

But his words ignited a paranoia Shikadai had ever experienced before, a paranoia that hauled what little common sense and reason there was left in Shikadai’s mind out of the window and shut him away from reality. Shikadai couldn’t do anything but stare at him.

_We’ve been waiting for you._

That guard must be one of the spies! Shikadai could not shake that thought off himself as he walked inside the seminar room. Almost all of the attendees turned around to look at him. Some of them whispered when he went looking for an empty seat. His heart beat a thousand beats per second and his palms were sweaty.

_They’ve been waiting for you._

What are they whispering about? Is it really written all over his face that he carries bombs on him? Do they _know_ what he’s about to commit? How do they know? Who told them? The spies? The spies must have told them.

He sat beside a girl with a Taki headband, from the Village Hidden in Waterfalls. She looked questioning at him but didn’t say anything. Was she a spy? An infiltrator from the Bastards, there to keep him in check.

Shikadai looked at the speaker but didn’t hear nor understand anything he said. Words meant nothing for him. He looked to his right, and saw a young man throw a glance at him. Shit, was that person also a spy? How many of them are there here? Shikadai tried to count the number of attendees but failed to count more than fifteen. Every time he got to fifteen, he lost count and had to start from the beginning.

Why wasn’t his brain working? There had to be more than fifteen people in here, the room was filled with people. He wasn’t sure if his non-existing working memory and attention span derived from his stress or from the injury the lightning had inflicted in his brain.

He could not fool himself any longer. There were – had to be – spies around here, he was sure of it. The longer he sat here, doing nothing, the closer Inojin’s death came. Inojin’s death was just one single phone call away, and he didn’t know who, out of these people were the spies. He had to do something.

He bit the lollipop to pieces in his mouth, earning looks from the girl beside him.

“Don’t chew so loudly”, she whispered and Shikadai stared at her. Was that a code sentence? What did she mean by that? Did she prompt him into anything? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

Where was Chocho? He couldn’t remember anymore why that other woman had taken her away. Was that woman also a spy and held Chocho hostage until Shikadai made his move? It had to be that way, why would they otherwise be separated? This whole place was no better than the cell. Shikadai is still trapped and he can’t get away.

Little did he realize that the only place he was trapped in was in his own mind.

Why didn’t his thoughts _work?_

He stared down at his bag and was suddenly convinced that everyone in the room could see through the fabric of his bag and could see the bombs in there. They knew what he was going to do, he was sure of it.

The Waterfall girl looked at him again. He didn’t realize it himself, but he had started staring very intensely at her. She creased her forehead quizzingly.

“Why are you staring? Is something wrong?” she asked.

It took Shikadai a few seconds to process her words before he grabbed his bag and ran out of the room.

_They’re killing him if you don’t do it_, he thought to himself, _the spies know you are here. They know you have the bombs. You must do it._

He searched a toilet and locked himself inside one of the toilet booths. Inside the security of the private space he calmed somewhat down, counting his own breaths to avoid activating another panic attack. He allowed himself to smile at the little victory when his pulse stabilized, and he leaned against the wall of the booth. Suddenly a great calmness overtook him.

This nightmare was soon to end. Just one big explosion and he didn’t have to worry about Inojin anymore. The worry that was eating him alive was going to end. They were going to be safe, Inojin and him. And Chocho. They would be able to return to Konoha after this and just forget the torture and live their lives and be _happy_. Shikadai smiled to himself.

He opened the map and examined the places for the bombs. He looked at the bombs, all which were assigned a number from one to sixteen. He must place them in order, and when the sixteenth seal was ripped on the final bomb, the countdown would start. He deciphered the codes of the bombs and found out that the bombs would simultaneously detonate twenty minutes after the sixteenth seal was ripped. But he didn’t have to worry, if he didn’t manage to plant all the bombs, the countdown would start automatically when five minutes had passed from the latest bomb’s activating.

The Bastards of Kumo had at last succeeded in breaking him down.

Maybe it was because he had experienced loss a week earlier when his grandmother died that his mind was more vulnerable than usual. Maybe it was when he had held an unconscious Inojin in his arms and was scared for his boyfriend’s life that made his mind weaker. Maybe it was the feeling of utter helplessness in the dark cell were no shadows nor wind worked.

Maybe it was the great lightning that tweaked the electrical signals in his brain that was guilty of all of this. Maybe it was the physical abuse. Maybe it was the horrifying knowledge of having Inojin’s life in his hands that triggered it.

Maybe it was the fact that his generation never had seen true horror in a similar way all shinobi generations before him had.

Or maybe it was a combination of all this together with the hormonal changes in his puberty brain that had triggered the psychotic episode.

_Soon, Inojin, soon we’ll be together again_, Shikadai thought when he finally gave in to the trauma-activated psychosis and climbed up the wall to the air-condition drum in the ceiling and ripped the seal of the first bomb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, Shikadai, for doing this to you, but I **promise ** you will have a happy ending.
> 
> The line "The nights are dark and full of terrors" is a quote from Game of Thrones, by G.R.R. Martin.
> 
> And ooops. Cliffhanger again.


	11. The Explosion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to this monstrosity of a 6k words long chapter.
> 
> So fasten your seatbelts because we're in for a ride.

Inojin tried to cover his face with the scarf he had in his bag, to protect it from frostbite. His skin hurt by the cold air as the Ink Bird he was riding flew in the direction of Kumo. He had had luck. After straying around in the wilderness of eastern Frost Country he finally found the main road and by some stroke of luck a little wandering party of merchants. They gave him more food and helped him find his way to the border.

He found the border station and commanded his Ink Bird to gain altitude, soaring high above the station. There, in the distance he saw the towering mountains belonging to the Village Hidden in the Clouds.

_Faster, faster_, he thought. _Please, let me get there in time._

If he was more skilled, he would try to find Shikadai and Chocho’s minds, but he couldn’t upkeep his Ink jutsu at the same time as a Mind jutsu. He could only hope he would win the race against time.

“He changed direction!” Ino said. “He’s on his way to Kumo right now, and he’s fast. He’s flying, probably on an Ink Bird. Oh, thank heavens, that means he’s not too hurt.”

She leaned against Sai in relief but received no acknowledge from him. She knew why, she saw it at the way he stared in front of him, over the icy landscapes. His chakra was almost depleted from having three big Ink Birds up and running for so long. Soon he’d have to rest. But they had no time.

“Do you find Chocho?” Karui yelled from her Ink Bird, where Choji held a firm hold around her middle to prevent her from falling when she leaned over to communicate with the rest.

“I sense her vaguely”, Ino replied. Her chakra was exhausted after sensing after Inojin for hundreds of kilometres of travelling. She would have to rest, too, soon.

“And Shikadai?” Temari shouted from her Ink Bird.

Ino tried. She really, really tried.

“I’m sorry”, she said. “I can’t sense him. But maybe I’m just too tired.”

“Well, let’s hurry the fuck up”, Temari snarled. Worry surged in her stomach as she grabbed Shikamaru's hand. _Please let their son be okay._

Shikadai hid the seventh paper bomb behind a radiator on the lower floor of the conference hall. So far, his progress had gone fine without any interruptions. The halls were empty for the most part, as everyone was inside the seminar rooms. He checked the map and walked over to where the next placement should be.

“Hello”, a voice called behind him and Shikadai turned around to find the woman who took Chocho away standing just a few steps from him. He looked at her suspiciously and carefully hid the map inside his pocket. How did she know he was here? She was probably a spy as well. “Shikadai, wasn’t it?”

Nebui brought up her hand, holding it in front of him. Shikadai eyed the hand, before making the decision to shake it. Maybe the spy was going to tell him that he didn’t have to hide any more bombs, that seven instead of sixteen would do the job.

“Yes.”

He shook her hand and the second her fingers closed over his hand blazing hot pain shot through his palm and up his arm. The pain was so sudden and intense he didn’t even get a sound out of his mouth, he just snatched the hand to himself and massaged the palm. And there it was. The kanjis **封印**, meaning _seal,_ stared back at him from the inside of his palm.

The woman had burned a seal into his palm, mutilating his chakra usage in his arm. Nothing below his elbow could mould chakra anymore and he lost his sense of touch in his hand.

“You sealed me!” Shikadai yelled at her, staring at his hand. He didn’t understand. Why did the spy do this to him? “You – you sealed me!”

“You tell me why you have been sneaking around this building”, Nebui said, as she grabbed his sealed arm. “You’re supposed to be at a seminar, yet here you are, walking around aimlessly. Now, tell me.”

Shikadai stared at her as his thoughts fought to make sense of everything. They tried to analyse this new information and adapt it to his skewed reality and paranoia of spies being everywhere, and this made Shikadai even more confused. Some sanity left in him tried to tell him that _this was all a lie_ and he felt a rug being snatched from beneath him and all he wanted was to run away.

“You’re not a spy”, he finally managed to say and Nebui raised her eyebrows.

“Spy? What are you talking about?” she said, sounding concerned. “What spies?”

“Spies to keep me in check”, Shikadai replied, barely hearing himself over the civil war his thoughts were having in his brain.

“What is going on?” Nebui asked and yanked him with her. “Come with me. We’re going to have a talk.”

“No”, Shikadai said and tried to resist her grip of him.

“Don’t force me to create a stronger seal!” Nebui snapped. “Follow me.” Her grip tightened and she dragged him with her up a flight of stairs and into a room with a Staff Only sign. On the other side of the door a room opened up, which without a second glance, was recognized as a room for custody.

The guardess on a tea break jerked up from the chair she was sitting in, almost spilling her tea.

“Lady Nebui”, she said and bowed. “Who is this?”

“One of our guests is up to something”, Nebui said, glaring at Shikadai. “Arai, interrogate this boy.”

“Let me go”, Shikadai pleaded. One part of him was relieved he couldn’t finish in time, but another part was screaming that Inojin will die. Nebui forced him to walk deeper into the room, where they stripped him off his weapons and bag.

“Sit”, she commanded and pressed him down on a chair by a table. Accustomed, she strapped his non-sealed arm to the table with a shackle and chain. “We’ll let you go if you just tell us what you’re up to.”

_No, no more chains, please._

Shikadai stared at the clock on the wall. Five minutes had passed since he had activated his seventh bomb. The countdown to the explosion had started.

**20 minutes**

“Eh, Lady Nebui”, Arai mumbled. “He has bombs in his bag.”

“_What?”_ Nebui jumped up to Arai and helped her empty his bag. Nine paper bombs in blue ink were laid on the table in front of him. “Where did you get these?”

“I – I…” Shikadai didn’t know what to say. _Inojin will die, Inojin will die_ was the only thing he heard. He couldn’t focus nor control his own mind anymore. What was _going_ _on_?

Suddenly, he didn’t even remember where he had planted the bombs. He was too deep in his own delusion. He couldn’t get a single word out of his mouth.

“Answer me!” Nebui yelled and when she didn’t even get eye contact with Shikadai she turned to Arai. “Arai, do your truth telling jutsu on him.”

Arai nodded and raised a little, thin scalpel.

“This can hurt a bit”, she said and carefully opened a cut in Shikadai’s arm. She licked the blood dripping out of the clean cut, tasting it carefully while activating a jutsu.

“Lady Nebui”, Arai said after tasting his blood. “He’s sick. Something is wrong with his mind.”

**19 minutes**

“What do you mean by that?” Nebui snarled.

“I mean, he has a disorder in his mind”, Arai answered. “He’s probably not plotting anything. He is not present in our reality.”

“That still doesn’t explain the bombs in his bag”, Nebui said.

“Who sends a sick teenager away to a foreign country?” Arai wondered; forehead creased.

“I’m not sick!” Shikadai groaned, when his thoughts finally sorted themselves out. The accusation felt wrong to him. “Let me go.”

“We must find out how he managed to sneak in nine bombs into our conference”, Nebui said. “We can call the Hokage later and ask what we’re supposed to do with him.”

“Who did he accompany?”

“Akimichi Chocho, the Konoha-Kumor”, Nebui said. “I’ll go and find her. She probably knows what’s going on in his head if she’s travelled with him all the way from Konoha to here. Hell, she might even know about those bombs.”

“Let me go!” Shikadai snarled, panic starting to take the better off him. He wanted to tell them that he had planted bombs but couldn’t find the words to do so. Instead he smashed his forehead against the table in defeat. “And I’m not sick”, he then grumbled under his breath.

“My jutsu never lies”, Arai said. “Blood tells a lot of secrets.” She reached for her scalpel again. “I can extract more secrets out of you, if you just stay still.”

**18 minutes**

“I’ll be right back with the Akimichi girl”, Nebui said and left the room. Shikadai lifted his head and watched her leave. Arai cut up another portion of his skin and licked the blood. He didn’t resist. He had already lost.

Arai looked at him questioningly after the second portion of blood.

“You’re very sad”, she then said. “You miss someone. You want to save someone.”

“Inojin”, Shikadai mumbled. “He’s going to die.”

“Who’s going to die?” Arai asked.

“My… boyfriend”, Shikadai said. “And it’s your fault! You’re going to tell the spies, aren’t you? I was doing just fine until you came and bothered me.”

“I sense that you’ve taken drugs”, Arai said, askingly and slowly, like she didn’t believe what Shikadai just had told her. “It’s not good to take drugs when you’re sick, it can only make your delusion worse. You need help. We can arrange help for you, if you let us.”

“You don’t understand, they’ll kill him.” Shikadai had started crying. Arai stared at him.

“Who’re they?” she asked.

“Nora”, Shikadai snarled at her. “And Soni. And their friends. There were dozens of them in that house. They kept us away from them so I couldn’t see how many there were.” This was the best his mind could come up with, in its current state. Forming sentences felt hard, even if his mind already had lengthy monologues on the ready but actually managing to speak in a coherent way was hopelessly impossible. He could have told them about the terror attack, but his mind just didn’t let him form the thoughts.

“Why would Nora and Soni kill your boyfriend?” Arai asked.

“Because… because… they hate you”, was the only thing that Shikadai could say.

**17 minutes**

“Do we know these people?” Arai asked and before Shikadai had time to find an answer to her question they heard noises outside the door. Someone argued violently and when they got closer one of the voices turned out to be undeniably recognizable.

“It’s my son! Let me see him!”

“Mum?” Shikadai whispered.

“I can’t let you in, he’s in custody”, the voice that belonged to Nebui answered.

“Then put me in custody with him”, Temari growled.

“Please”, another voice, that belonged to Shikamaru, pleaded.

“Dad?” Shikadai whispered and that was enough for Arai to give in. She rose from her chair and opened the door.

“Mum! Dad!” Shikadai shouted from where he was chained to the table. Temari and Shikamaru jostled through the door opening to get inside.

“Thank god, you’re safe”, Shikamaru exhaled. “Why is he in custody? Why is his hand sealed?”

“He’s sick”, Arai quickly said. “We found him wandering around in the building. He’s delusional.”

“What? Delusional?” Temari said. “He wasn’t sick when he left.”

“Then he fell ill during his travel to us”, Arai said, determined.

“But why did you feel the need to seal him and chain him like a prisoner?” Temari asked with growing impatience.

“Because he was carrying powerful blue seal bombs on him.”

**16 minutes**

Shikamaru and Temari stared at them.

“Blue seal bombs?” Shikamaru parroted and then turned to Shikadai. “What is the meaning of this, Shikadai? Where did you get them from?”

“They’d kill him if I didn’t do it”, Shikadai whispered, tears forming in his eyes again.

“Kill who?” Temari asked, caressing his shoulder.

“Inojin”, Shikadai said, and it hurt to say his name out loud. His Inojin, his Sun in this never-ending darkness.

“Inojin?” Temari repeated. “What do you mean, sweetie, Inojin is here with us. He’s safe.”

Shikadai stared at her.

“What? No. We had to leave him”, Shikadai started rambling, without piecing his thoughts together. “They – they left us in the wilderness, they shunshinned away. We couldn’t find him, you see, they have trackers on us – “

“Trackers?” Nebui jumped quickly up to him. “Where do you have trackers on?”

“Shikadai, Inojin is here”, Temari assured. “When we came, he had already reached the village. Ino and Sai found him outside. We went ahead to find you, but I promise Inojin is here in Kumo.”

**15 minutes**

As if some god in this darkness had listened to Shikadai’s despair, on demand, someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it now?” Nebui snarled and opened the door, only to stare at a flock of foreigners on the other side. Omoi was in the front; he had done the knocking, and beside him were his former teammate Karui and her husband, and their daughter, who looked at her with very serious eyes.

On the other side of Omoi stood a tall, blond woman with the longest hair Nebui had ever seen, a pale black-haired man and a little blond teenager who was the perfect mix of them two.

“Let me through!” the blond boy said and before Nebui could grab his arm to stop him he slinked past her and he dashed to Shikadai.

“This is no lobby!” Nebui yelled at the boy. “Get out of here!”

But the boy didn’t listen to her. He almost pushed the parents of Shikadai out of his way when he threw himself at Shikadai in a big, warm hug.

“I’m here, I’m here”, Inojin said repeatedly in Shikadai’s ear. Tears fell from his eyes and he pressed himself against Shikadai, who tried his best to hug back with his one free arm. “I’m okay, Shikadai, you don’t have to do it, I escaped.”

“Inojin”, Shikadai murmured back. “Oh god, you’re safe. I was so terrified.”

And then, without caring about the ten pairs of eyes staring at them, without feeling any shame or shyness, Inojin kissed Shikadai on the mouth, a deep loving kiss, in front of everyone.

**14 minutes**

“You don’t have to do it anymore”, Inojin said against Shikadai’s lips, and when Shikadai stiffened he withdrew, staring at him. “Don’t tell me… Shikadai, don’t tell me you did it.”

“Did what?” Temari’s voice was filled with concern.

Shikadai lowered his gaze and nodded, a small nod that was barely visible. Inojin threw a gaze at Chocho, who had already covered her mouth with her hands.

“Oh no”, Chocho said. “How many … how many bombs did you activate?”

“… I can’t remember. I think… seven”, Shikadai whispered after trying his hardest to remember how many he had done.

Shikamaru, who by now had figured out what had happened, figured out why Shikadai was so upset, why they hadn’t reached the conference in time, had everything unfolded in his mastermind. He rose up.

“Has he hidden seven blue seal bombs in this building? We need to evacuate immediately!” he shouted and then turned to Shikadai. “When did you activate them?”

Shikadai looked up at the clock on the wall.

“They explode in –“

**13 minutes**

“Thirteen minutes”, Shikadai said.

“Shit”, Shikamaru whispered. “Why didn’t you tell us immediately?”

“I told you, he is sick”, Arai said. “Come! We need to move! Help us evacuate everyone.”

The little room became filled with hustles as everyone started to move. Temari took Shikadai’s chains and tried to untie them, but eventually failed, as they were locked firmly to the metal table.

“Never mind those”, Nebui said. “We’ll come back for him later. Please, Lady Temari, we need you too out there.”

“Argh, okay then”, Temari snarled, and moved out with everyone. Inojin lingered by the door opening, throwing a worried glance at Shikadai. He didn’t know if he should feel honoured and loved by the fact that Shikadai had committed to a _terror attack_ for him, or if he should be deeply worried.

He knew the answer.

He should be deeply worried. He had felt Shikadai’s mind and something was severely wrong with it. It felt wrong to leave him alone when they were helping evacuate everyone else, but they knew that they couldn’t take care of him when they were filled with other tasks and duties. Shikadai shouldn’t be left alone. Not when he’s like this.

“Come on now, Inojin”, Ino hissed. “Go and help your dad.” She pushed him with her, and they run down the stars.

Inojin looked out of the huge windows, at the beautiful sunset. The sun had almost gone down. And Shikadai had gone down with it.

**12 minutes**

“Shikamaru!” Ino cried out to him. “Do you want to do the talking?”

Shikamaru nodded and crouched down into his trademark position, the one he liked to be in when thinking hard. Ino put her hand to Shikamaru’s head and the other in the activating sign as her Mind Body transfer activated and she reached out to _everyone_ in the whole building. There were over two hundred people in the building.

“_Everyone! This building needs to be evacuated. This is not a drill. Let me repeat, the building needs to be evacuated immediately.” _Shikamaru’s voice echoed in all minds present in Kumo’s great conference hall. On command, they heard hustles from the seminar halls, and soon enough, the whole hallway was filled with people.

The reaction was maybe not what they expected. These kids looked highly unimpressed by the fact that they had to evacuate in the middle of their seminars, and what they seemed most irritated by was the fact that it was cold outside.

“I’ll quickly go to the bathroom first”, Shikamaru heard one boy say.

“I forgot my jacket!” another girl said. “I’ll get that first, it’s freezing outside.”

“Why are there Konoha shinobi here?”

“Ino, they’re not getting the urgency”, Shikamaru hissed and Ino pressed her hand against his head again.

“_This building will explode in – _

**11 minutes**

_“Eleven minutes!” _Shikamaru said into their heads. “_Just get out, do not linger. Get out!”_

Well, it had the effect he wanted.

“Great job creating panic”, Ino muttered, at the same time as someone activated the fire alarm. “You didn’t need to be so blunt.”

“Stupid kids not understanding what’s going on”, Shikamaru said.

At the same time as Ino and Shikamaru focused on the communication part, Karui, Chocho and Choji ran down into the lower floors of the conference hall, the ones that run into the mountain.

“The kitchen and engine rooms are there”, Karui said as they run down the stairs. “We need to help them, it’s a dead end in there, there are no emergency exits – “

They entered the kitchen, where the kitchen staff of more than thirty people did their hardest to shut off ovens.

“We must leave”, Karui hollered at them.

“The oil tanks!” one of the kitchen staff said as he run up to them. “The building is heated by oil tanks; we need to shut heating system off. They will cause a much bigger explosion otherwise, please help us. The mountain may collapse if not.”

The mountain can’t collapse. If it does and causes a landslide, the whole lower village of Kumo will be in danger. All the shinobi down there on the streets. All civilians doing their errands. Everyone below this mountain. All the houses, the Academy, everything will be destroyed if the mountain collapses.

“You make sure everyone from this kitchen makes it out!” Karui hissed to Choji. “I’ll shut the heating system off.”

“Karui!” Choji said and grabbed her hand. “Please –“

“There is no time!” She snatched her hand and ran.

**10 minutes**

“I love you”, Choji yelled after her as she dashed further into the darkness, down to the main engine room. “Chocho, we must leave now – “

“Papa! Puppies”, Chocho exclaimed and dashed forward. She was right, there, in the corner of the kitchen, a mommy dog with her seven puppies laid in a little heap of blankets and pillows. They were cuddled up in a scared pile, shivering in fright. “The kitchen dog has puppies. We need to help them.”

And no matter how much Choji wanted to say that they need to save themselves, he couldn’t just say no to saving a dog with her puppies. He couldn’t bear himself to know that seven barely six weeks old puppies faced their deaths in an explosion.

“It’s okay”, Chocho said to the mommy dog. “I know you’re scared. We’ll save you. Partial Expansion Jutsu!”

Her big arms clasped around the puppies, and she managed to lift all of them up at the same time. Choji helped her with some of the wildest puppies – they were scared after all. The mommy dog ran after them, barking and jumping to see if her babies were alright.

“Alright, now, let’s leave”, Chocho said, just as much to the dog, to her father and to herself.

**9 minutes**

Each heating tank had to be shut off separately. Karui cursed under her breath as she climbed up the first tank, the firsts out of ten. She turned the switch down, slid down the smooth steel surface of the tank and moved over to the next one.

If only she could do shadow clones. Then this would be over in an instant.

She climbed up to the second one, shutting it off and realized that this is taking too much time. Should she leave and let the cruel nature of chemicals reacting to fire and cause an even worse explosion than that of seven blue seal bombs, or should she become a martyr?

“Karui!”

Karui jerked at the sound of that familiar voice.

“Omoi! Help me switch off the heaters”, Karui yelled. “They’ll explode!”

**8 minutes**

Sai and Inojin were out on the outer staircase, moving the flock of people down the steep hills. But because the stairs were so steep, no one could move quite quickly without risking losing their balance. The stairs were covered in ice and snow, and the queue down to safety was incredibly long.

“They won’t make it in time”, Inojin realized. “Dad, they won’t make it! We won’t make it.”

“Inojin!” Sai said sternly, giving him a meaningful gaze. Inojin understood the wink and yanked his brush and scroll in a battle-ready position. Father and son simultaneously painted Ink Beasts, one in black and white and the other one in pink and purple.

“Ninja Art! Super Beast Drawing!” they both shouted at the same time, activating the paintings on their scrolls.

Birds of various sizes, the black and white ones bigger and more spacious than the pink ones jumped out of the paper, screeching their signal honks. The people on the staircase turned their attention to them.

“Everyone, if you stand next to an Ink Bird, jump onto it and it will bring you to safety”, Sai hollered to everyone the birds flew past. “There’s room for more than one on each bird, at least on the white ones! Get on the birds! Inojin, more. We need more birds.”

**7 minutes**

Inojin kept creating more birds until almost everyone on the staircase was flown to safety. He almost breathed out of relief when looking at the empty stairs. The other guests and dual citizens seemed to be in safety now.

“Inojin!” That was definitely Chocho’s voice. “There you are!”

“What do you have in your hands?” Inojin asked. “Puppies?”

“From the kitchen”, Chocho said. “The kitchen dog had puppies – “

“Not now Chocho, tell when you’re in safety”, Choji appeared behind her. “Sai, please, lend us a bird.”

Sai did as Choji asked, creating a magnificent bird for them all. Choji pushed Chocho, and the dog with all of its puppies onto the bird. Lastly, he jumped himself onto the birds back. Sai grumbled from the big weight his Ink Bird had to carry, strengthening it with more ink when Choji didn’t notice.

“But what about mama?” Chocho asked, alarmed. “She hasn’t come yet – “

“She’s coming”, Choji interrupted, but he didn’t sound so sure. “Trust me, Chocho, she’s coming.”

The bird took off, lowering them to the safe ground.

“Inojin, you should also leave”, Sai said between gritted teeth,

“I must go and get Shikadai”, Inojin said.

“No!”

Sai had been at enough missions with fires involved to know that each time someone was stupid enough to run back into the fire – to save a loved one or to bring something of value with them – they never came back. People running back into fire always die.

“Inojin, you must also leave!”

“But Shikadai is still chained to that table – “

“Trust Temari and Shikamaru, they’ll get him”, Sai interrupted. “Get on a bird, Inojin. I will not see my only son die.”

**5 minutes**

Karui and Omoi ran for their lives up the stairs from the kitchen and engine room, where they successfully managed to shut down all of the heating tanks. Hopefully their success in shutting the tanks off saved at least someone, given that the mountain was now less prone to breaking into pieces after the explosion if the tanks didn’t add to the blue seal bombs.

Five minutes left.

They met Ino in the hall, grabbed her with them and continued to run. Outside, on the balcony, they found Sai with a great bird ready for them.

“Has Inojin left already?” Ino shouted to Sai as she jumped to the Ink Birds back.

“Yes, he’s down there with Chocho and Choji”, Sai confirmed.

“Where’s Shikamaru and Temari?” Karui asked.

“They went to get Shikadai”, Ino hissed between her teeth.

“I can wait for them –“ Sai tried.

“No, we need to get the hell out of this place”, Ino said. “I found one of the bombs attached to the ceiling, and the seal is so strong there’s no way to either remove or defuse it. Seven of them will take this whole building down. Sai, leave!”

**4 minutes**

Shikadai sat all by himself and tried different codes for the lock on the shackle around his arm, with no success. He heard the hustle and panic of hundreds of people outside and the distant screams of a fire alarm, and he understood that he was in danger, but as his mind was right now, he didn’t understand that he would _die_ if he was left there. He was just satisfied he had saved Inojin.

But he was _left_ there.

Then the hustle had died down and he understood that the majority had already evacuated.

_I tried to kill everyone in this building. I deserve to be left here alone._

_But I _saved_ Inojin._

He only stared right in front of him, listening to his delusional thoughts beat him up inside his head. His hands were shaking.

Someone broke through the door.

**3 minutes**

“Shikadai!” Temari yelled. “Fuck that Nebui, she left. We need to get this chain off you.”

Shikamaru jostled inside, already hands in the sign.

“Shadow Stitching Jutsu!” he demanded, and a shadow manifested itself and materialized. The shadow threw itself at the lock, making its way inside the fine mechanics of the lock, trying to tweak the lock from the inside to open it.

“Dad, it’s not helping”, Shikadai silently said. “You can leave me here.”

“Shh, Shikadai, don’t say that”, Shikamaru said, deeply concentrated at guiding the tiny shadow inside the lock. “You’re going to be fine; we’ll make things fine and you’re going to live a happy life with Inojin. Just let me get this lock…”

During this time Temari had begun working on Shikadai’s seal on his hand. She did a series of hand signs – it was a long sequence – and pressed her fingers to Shikadai’s palm.

“Release”, she said, but the seal didn’t crack. “Oh no. It’s a closed seal. I can’t open it.”

She tried again and failed again.

“I can’t undo his seal!” Temari shouted. “Fuck! We need to get out of here. Shikamaru, there is no time.”

**2 minutes**

“Shikamaru, we don’t have the time!” Temari repeated.

“Fucking lock”, Shikamaru said, and nothing could cover the sense of desperation in his voice. “It’s not working. I – I… fuck, I’ll figure something out.”

If it was as easy as just lift the whole table with them and walk out with Shikadai still chained to it and then later, in safety, remove the chain, then they would have done it. But the table was not your basic dinner table; this was a table for interrogation and that meant that it was welded into the floor.

“We’ll do it my way”, Temari then snapped. She unfolded her fan and bared the sharp outer edge of the iron. “Hold his hand still.”

Shikadai stared at her weapon and how she lifted it over her head, like a butcher raising her axe to decapitate a prisoner. His father grabbed his hand and guided it as far away it possibly would come, straining the chain into a straight line.

“Temari… if you miss, you’re going to chop his whole arm off”, Shikamaru whispered.

“I know”, Temari hissed. “You ready, Shikadai?” She let out a little scream and _smashed_ her iron fan’s sharp edge down the table, breaking the chain and table in two. “That’s it!” She grabbed Shikadai’s bag and fan and tossed them at him. “Come on, let’s leave!”

**60 seconds**

They ran.

They ran through the corridors, down the stairs and out on the balcony. Shikadai tried his best to keep up with his parents, even if his thoughts were screaming at him to _let them leave you, you don’t deserve to be saved_ and they dashed down the outer stairs. The street below them had been emptied.

“Shikadai.” Temari stopped abruptly and grabbed his both shoulders, staring into the eyes that were a carbon copy of her own. “How are you feeling? Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Two questions at once. Shikadai tried to organize his mind, to decide which question to answer first.

“Yes”, he just said.

Temari opened her fan.

“Come on my back”, she commanded. “Like a piggyback, like we used to do when you were a kid. Do you remember that game?”

Shikadai nodded slowly but didn’t move. Temari questioned if he actually could take in what she said.

“Sweetie, get on my back”, she repeated, now with raising impatience in her voice. Why didn’t Shikadai understand the severity of this? Why wasn’t he _himself?_ “We have to fly down and you can’t use chakra, you have to be with me on my fan. Shikamaru - ”

Shikamaru understood the wink and he helped Shikadai onto Temari’s back. Now, with the assistance and assurance of his father, Shikadai understood to cling onto Temari’s back.

Now with the extra burden on her back, Temari jumped up on the railing of the staircase, readying her fan.

“This fan better holds all three of us “, Temari began and her lips were moving but Shikamaru wasn’t hearing her because –

**Boom**

– the explosion was so loud. Temari screamed as fire and heat surrounded them and the stairs collapsed. In the midst of falling down to sure deaths she climbed on her own fan, grabbing Shikamaru’s hand. Shikadai slid a bit down on her back, but he held on tight.

“Don’t let me go!” Shikamaru shouted at her while dangling in her iron grip. The fan brought them further away from the heart of the explosion, the raging fire and the heat that engulfed them whole. Temari’s grip around Shikamaru’s hand became slippery of sweat. If he slipped away from the grip of her fingers, then he’d –

“Never!”

Temari used all the chakra she had on the ready to haul Shikamaru up on the fan with her, as they soared down, down, down to safety. The fan was shaking of the extra weight, as it wasn’t designed to carry a whole family, but Temari drained happily all her chakra to keep it steady.

Shikamaru’s legs buckled under him when he got off the fan on the ground beneath the mountain and Shikadai fell on his knees when sliding off his mother’s back but Temari grabbed both of her boys with her, and ran away from the burning, falling rubble of Kumogakure’s conference hall.

They ran for their lives away from the landslide of the collapsing building, and when the main construction of the facility fell and crashed into ruins onto the ground the deafening crash of almost ruptured their eardrums.

The shockwave was enough to make them stumble, as a cloud of dust and smoke covered the whole ground level of the village.

And after that, a total silence.

“Where is he?”

Nebui walked along the ruins of what used to be the main street of the ground level of their village. Houses were destroyed after the conference hall, located high on the hill of a mountain, had exploded and fallen down.

But luckily, they had been warned.

Luckily Yamanaka Ino and her son had managed to spread the message to the citizens of Kumo. Luckily their own jonin had lightning fast reactions and managed to evacuate the town at the same time as the Konoha ninjas managed to evacuate the conference hall.

Luckily, Yamanaka Sai had had Beast Scroll jutsus, that saved many of the kids pushing themselves down the icy staircase.

Luckily, Karui and Omoi had understood to shut off the heating tanks, avoiding a much greater explosion. The mountain had been spared. Only a small landslide had been caused along with the building’s destruction.

Nebui looked around at her destroyed village. It had been emptied in the final moment.

There seemed to have been no casualties. No wounded or dead villagers laid among the ruins. No one had died. Not a single person.

“Where is he?” she repeated, now looking straight at Shikamaru. He sat on a pile of rubble, forehead leaning into his hands. “Are you wounded?”

“No”, Shikamaru answered, voice deep and filled of grief.

“Where is Shikadai?” Nebui tried again and behind her more of Kumo’s jonin gathered up. Shikamaru recognized the woman, Arai, that had been in that room with Shikadai earlier, among them. They radiated hostility.

“Did you come to take him away?”

“Yes”, Nebui confirmed.

“I can’t let you”, Shikamaru said. “He – he didn’t do it on purpose. He’s no terrorist.”

“Spare your plea for Lord Raikage”, Nebui said. “Where is he?”

Shikamaru clenched his jaw, but ultimately understood. He couldn’t fight these jonin. Their village had partially been destroyed as a direct result of Shikadai’s actions, and he could not fight against that.

Shikamaru jerked his head in the direction where Shikadai and Temari were.

“They’re there”, he finally said and followed Nebui as they walked around the corner.

Shikadai sat with his knees drawn up to his chest and face hidden behind his arms on the ground, with Temari crouching beside him. She caressed his shoulder and talked gently to him, calming the shaking boy down. As soon as they approached, she straightened up; tall and protective.

“What are you going to do to him?” she asked defensively. “Don’t hurt him –“

“I’m not going to hurt him”, Nebui said. “We’re just arresting him.”

Temari opened her mouth to snap at them to _leave her baby alone_, but she held her temper back.

“You – you were right”, she said instead, damn close to tears. “Shikadai… There’s something wrong with him. His reality is twisted.”

Arai crouched beside Shikadai, who at first didn't acknowledge her. When she touched him he looked up and flinched at her. He didn’t say a word, only stared at her with fright in his eyes.

“I won’t hurt you”, she said, under the wary glares of the boy’s parents. Arai grabbed the end of the chain still hanging from Shikadai’s wrist and helped him up on standing legs.

“Where are Inojin and Chocho?” Shikamaru asked.

“We already have them in custody”, Arai answered. “They followed us willingly. They won’t stop talking about Shikadai’s innocence. Torture and Intelligence are now preparing for the interrogation of them. But let’s see what we can do with this little perpetrator.”

“I’m – I’m not…” Shikadai mumbled, gaining everyone’s attention. Then he looked up, at the night dark sky and clouds looking back down at him. “I had to do it. I had to go down with the sun. I saved Inojin.”

Temari turned around, so no one would see her cry as Arai, Nebui and the backup jonin directed her son away from her, into a dangerous world of interrogation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you still alive there, dear readers? 
> 
> Did you guess the explosion would actually be executed?  
(or well, if you know me by now, then you would have guessed it)


	12. The end of a breakdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, another almost 6k words long chapter. All of the remaining ones are pretty long, whoopsies.

“Lord Raikage.”

Ino felt weirdly nervous. She was usually never nervous when talking to other people, she was the dictionary definition of extrovert and she was a skilled speaker, but this was different. This was a plea, and Ino was not used to pleading. Karui stood beside her, as moral support. Maybe this was a stupid idea, but she knew she _had _to do it. She just needed the permission of the highest man in the hierarchy.

Darui, Kumogakure’s fifth Raikage looked at her. She had been damn persistent in begging to get a moment to speak to the Raikage, because after all the panic and drama after the collapsing, exploding building, he had understandably been extremely busy.

“Yes, Yamanaka”, he said. “What is it?”

“About Nara Shikadai –“

“What about him?” Darui interrupted. “You’re not going to plea for his innocence, are you?”

“No.” Ino swallowed. “But, in the state he is now… if he doesn’t feel safe, it’s only going to make him worse. He needs treatment now. Interrogation can wait.”

“We haven’t even interrogated him yet”, Darui said. “He is somewhere completely else on the charts. He claims our food is poisoning him and that’s the reason he can’t use chakra.”

“Because that is what the Bastards of Kumo did to them”, Ino said.

“And it’s absurd that he is comparing _us _to them”, Darui said.

“He needs treatment”, Ino said, now more firmly.

Darui looked at her with interest in his eyes.

“Let me go to him, and give him emergency help”, Ino said. “He needs medical care as soon as possible, and the clock is ticking.”

“What makes you think we can’t help him?” Darui asked.

“What have you done to help him then, if I may ask?”

“We’re this close to start tube feeding him”, Darui answered, receiving an eye roll from Ino. “And we’ve tried a tailored genjutsu on him.”

“With all due respect, Lord Raikage, but a genjutsu is not going to help”, Ino said. “You can’t create more realities and expect someone who has lost grasp of reality to gain any use from it. Forgive me if I speak out of line, Lord Raikage, but I think I’m the best at looking into people’s minds here. Don’t tube feed him, it’s can be damaging to him if you do it by force. Please, let me treat Shikadai.”

Darui fidgeted around with his ball-point pen. He sighed.

“You swear he’ll stop comparing us to the Bastards after your treatment?” he asked.

“I can’t promise anything”, Ino said. “But I will do my best to pull him out of the psychosis.”

Darui looked at her for a couple of seconds.

“Fine. But my best medic, C, is going to be there with you.”

Shikadai looked incredibly small, in that room where he sat on the bed, with his knees drawn up to his chest. He was dressed in a white t-shirt and black pants; prison clothes, and he had now two seals burned into his palms, mutilating his chakra from both his arms. Ino knew that he also had two similar seals burned into the soles of his feet. Ino felt physical pain at the sight of one of her best friend’s child. At the sight of the one her son loves the most.

“Hi, Shikadai”, Ino said gently. “Do you remember me?”

“Where’s Inojin?” Shikadai quietly asked, eyeing C who was standing by the door. He seemed so, so skinny. “Why did you take a spy with you?”

“Inojin is safe”, Ino said. “I promise you, Inojin is safe and well. He can’t see you just yet. You need to get healthy again before he can see you.”

“Everyone keeps telling me I’m sick”, Shikadai muttered. A moment passed and he looked up to Ino. His eyes were red. “Is it true?”

Ino caressed his arm as she sat beside him. He snatched his arm to himself and Ino respected his private space, moving a little bit further away from him.

“I’m afraid it’s true”, she said.

“Why are you on their side?” Shikadai then asked. “I can’t believe you if Inojin isn’t here. You’re his mum, how can you betray him like that? I did what you asked of me, I placed the bombs, why can’t you leave me alone?” Ino reached out to him again. “Don’t touch me.”

“I want to help you”, Ino said. “Don’t you want to get healthy again?”

“I want to see Inojin.”

“It is important you don’t resist me, when I do my jutsu on you”, Ino said. “We must do this, Shikadai. I promise you that you’ll see Inojin again.”

But that only scared Shikadai. He didn’t understand why Ino tried to put her hands on his head, and Ino had to do her hardest to not raise her voice at him when he kicked her in her chest. His reality is not real, she reminded herself.

“Do you need assistance?” C asked. “I can keep him down while you do it.”

“No”, Ino said. “He might get hysterical, and I can’t reach into the mind of someone in panic. I’ll bring his parents, they might help.” She turned to Shikadai, who had pressed himself in the corner. “I’ll be back in a moment”, she told to him gently. Then she looked at C. “Don’t do anything to him without me, okay?”

He nodded and she went over to Shikamaru and Temari, who waited outside. Ino wondered silently if they had slept at all during the two nights since the explosion.

“Did it work?” Shikamaru asked and his face fell back into deep worry when Ino shook her head.

“He won’t let me touch his head”, Ino said. “But it must be done. Can you join me? He might be calmer if you’re there.”

“Did he ask about Inojin?” Temari asked.

“Yes”, Ino confirmed, putting Temari’s face in a deep frown.

“Is it really too much to ask to have him there, too?” she then asked.

“The Raikage refused”, Ino sighed. “He said that they are not allowed to have contact with one another before all the interrogation is over – which is bad, I know. It would really benefit Shikadai to keep him as calm and content as possible.”

Out of nowhere Karui stepped into the waiting room. She had Omoi with her. Ino, Shikamaru and Temari gave them questioning gazes, to which Karui smiled.

“We pulled some strings”, she said and jerked her head towards the corridor behind her.

“I give Inojin permission to come”, Arai said as she approached from around the corner, and behind her; Sai and Inojin. “I have a soft spot for broken things.”

Temari wanted to spit that _her son is not broken_ at the woman, but she held her tongue, because this woman had just made things so much easier. If Inojin was here, the seemingly only source to Shikadai cooperating, then maybe Ino could cure him. This weird fever nightmare would end, and her son would return to his normal. She bit the inside of her cheek, knowing well that it might not be that easy for neither Ino nor Shikadai to make him better.

“Come”, Ino said and they made their way into Shikadai’s room again. Sai, Karui, Omoi and Arai remained in the waiting hall, because too many outsiders would probably make Shikadai uncomfortable.

There was a completely different reaction from said boy when Inojin stepped into the room, than when Ino and his parents did. Shikadai bolted out of the bed and ran up to Inojin, to hug him like he never was going to let him go.

“Sweetie…” Inojin mumbled in his ear. “Please, let them help you. I’m here. I’ll stay by your side the whole time.”

“I won’t ever let go of you again”, Shikadai cried in his hair. “Inojin, I saved you. I became a monster for you, I saved you.”

“Why did you let him come here?” C asked with a querulous voice.

“Shut up and let my boy become himself again”, Temari snapped at him and C shut his mouth before he came with some snarky comeback.

After a little of negotiation from Inojin’s side Shikadai finally let himself be surrounded by the adults. Inojin sat by his side, caressing his hand, pressing it down when Shikadai tensed as Ino put her hands on his head. Temari sat on his other side together with Shikamaru; she held his other hand.

“This may take a while”, Ino said. “I’m applying a new method on him.”

“What method?” Shikamaru asked, trying to not sound worried.

“I’m mixing medical chakra with a version of Mind Transfer”, Ino said and closed her eyes. Turquoise chakra poured out of her hands into Shikadai’s head, simultaneously as she invaded his mind. And while guiding herself into what seemed to be never-ending darkness, she corrected places in his mind where he was wrong.

While her medical chakra stimulated certain areas of the brain and made other areas less overactive, she forced positivity into Shikadai’s memories from the past days, alternating his thinking, replacing his paranoia with facts and the real reality.

_Shikadai, are you there?_

His mind was so dark.

_Shikadai, please. Let me get you. Can you see me?_

_Yes. _Shikadai’s voice was tiny and weak. Ino just wanted to hug him.

_Let me hug you._

She felt the lanky body of a teenager and she wrapper her arms around him. She let him press his face against her shoulder and she hugged him even harder when she felt how he was shaking.

_Let me guide you back to reality._

It took her over 90 minutes, and Shikadai drifted in and out of consciousness during that time. Ino was thankful for Shikamaru and Temari, who kept Shikadai’s head in place while he was unconscious and who then calmed him down when he woke up and wondered why Ino had her hands on him.

And finally, when she was finished, Shikadai was no longer chaotic, but really calm. He didn’t say a word when she removed her hands from his head, only let his head tilt down. Everyone waited patiently for some kind of reaction.

Shikadai was silent for a long time.

“What… what have I done”, Shikadai then asked. He looked down at seals burned into his palms and at his prison clothes. Then he looked up at Inojin. “Inojin. I’m so sorry.”

No one knew what to say. They couldn’t just say that everything was okay, because it was not. It was far from okay, but Ino had managed to press Shikadai into the real reality and that was a victory.

“You should sleep”, Ino said gently and rubbed his knee.

“Did that really happen?” Shikadai asked. “Why – I remember that I thought to myself that I’m going insane and then it was like I knew everything at once and it was like I _knew _what I had to do. It was real, Ino, I’m not making things up.”

Ino smiled painfully at him.

“Do you want to know why?”

Shikadai nodded slowly.

“You had an acute psychosis.”

Chocho found Kumo’s interrogators surprisingly chill. They offered her hot chocolate and biscuits that she munched on, while very honestly telling the truth. Everything that had happened to the trio, the sedative, the drugs in the food, the hunger-strike, the lightning, how Shikadai almost died, how the Bastards skilfully tricked them into accepting the mission and how Shikadai’s breakdown got its beginning was carefully recorded and written down.

The man interrogating her was nice, nodded on the right times and came with many questions, all of which Chocho immediately answered. To confirm her words Arai did her blood truth telling jutsu on her, and after getting the green light of telling the truth she was escorted back to the room she had very grumpily agreed to stay in. Even if she asked very nicely, Arai wouldn’t undo the seals on her hands. The kanjis **封印** shone as bright as before in her palms. She was lucky that they hadn’t done the seals of her feet, too, because the burning process hurt so much.

They had to stay in the prison during the interrogation period, while their parents got to sleep over at Omoi’s. No matter how many lollipops she had in her little I’m-getting-bored-and-hungry-pile and how many she ate, she didn’t feel the pleasure she usually got from eating sweets. Isolation during the interrogation period was the most boring and lonely thing she ever had gone through.

She was worried about Shikadai, though Karui had told her that he had gotten treatment and was aware of reality again. Chocho could breathe out, Shikadai was going to be okay. She dreamt away, thinking about the puppies she had saved. They had been so sweet, all of them, fluffy, orange coloured with white bellies. One of them was of a merle colour. If only she could meet them again and tell the owner he or she is happy to have such beautiful dogs. Omoi had taken this as his mission to find the owner, and Chocho waited impatiently for him to return with the contact information of the owner.

Chocho was the only one out of the Ino-Shika-Cho-trio who had a room with a window. She could follow the reconstruction of the village from the gridded window and was constantly in awe at how chill the Kumors really were. Their village had been partly destroyed two days ago, and without batting eyes they just started working. Draft ponies and oxen from the countryside of Lightning Country was brought in to help moving the rubble and everything worked flawlessly.

No one had died after all; the only destruction had been material.

Chocho looked out of the window, suddenly feeling being drawn to this weird humbleness of the Kumors. How they just accepted the destruction of their conference centre and moved on immediately, thinking about how to make the future easier for them. They were practical. It made Chocho warm inside. Maybe they weren’t going to go so hard on Shikadai after all. Maybe they weren’t going to make them serve any sentence for real.

But Chocho knew; it had been warned to her during the interrogation. There will be a trial. They will be brought to justice for sneaking in the bombs into the building.

“Inojin.” Sais voice was calm and soft.

“Hey”, Inojin said, eyeing the sheets of paper Sai had brought with him. “What are those?”

“I told the T&I men that you’re a good drawer”, Sai said, sitting down on the bed next to his son. “They gave me paper and pens for you. They hoped that you could draw how this Nora, Soni and Ibi looked like.”

“Oh”, Inojin said. “I can try. I mean, I saw them only for brief moments in darkness, but I guess I can try.”

“Were the men interrogating you nice to you?” Sai wondered.

“Yeah, they were”, Inojin said. “They gave me snacks. Apparently bribing with candy is common here. But they were not judging at all and… well. It feels good to hear that they are not _that_ mad at us. They understood that we were kind of forced.”

“Do your hands still hurt?”

“The seals?” Inojin said. “It hurt like hell when they burned them, but only for a moment. I just miss having chakra. Feels so unfair that we’ve had our chakra taken away from us so much lately.”

Sai nodded at the same time as someone knocked on the door. They half expected Arai or someone else working for Kumo, but the person behind the door was Ino.

“Hey, boys”, she said. “Can I come in?”

“Did Arai let you in?” Sai asked.

“Yes, she laminated these for us”, Ino said and gave Sai a name tag. “Apparently Karui and Omoi have been extremely engaged and have convinced the Raikage and the other ones working in the prison department to give us special permission to be here. As long as we wear these name tags and notify the lady working in the prison info desk that we are here, we are allowed to visit Inojin whenever we want.”

“That’s wonderful”, Sai said.

“How’s Shikadai?” Inojin asked.

“He’s quite downhearted”, Ino said. “Okay, that was an understatement. He’s devastated. But on the positive note… he is aware of reality again. He remembers what happened and is aware of that he had a psychosis, which is always a good sign.”

“When can I see him?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know”, Ino said, sitting down on the bedside besides Sai. She let her hand slip into his. “But we’re here now, Inojin. We’re together again, as a family. And no matter how horrible this past week has been, we’re together again.”

Later that day when Sai came to collect the drawings of the criminals that Inojin had provided them he found two more pictures. One of them were of the three of them; Inojin, Ino and himself, happily posing as if the picture was a photograph.

And then, last in the pile, he found a drawing of Shikadai, smiling, as if none of the horrors had ever happened to them.

Arai opened the door for Shikamaru and let him finally visit Shikadai again. He found his son laying on his side in his bed, facing the wall. Shikadai didn’t have any shoes on, and the seals on his foot soles shone brightly, making Shikamaru’s stomach turn. He carefully put the coffee cup he had brought with him on the bedside table.

“Are you asleep?” Shikamaru asked while sitting beside him. Shikadai shook his head but said nothing. He continued staring into the wall. “I brought you coffee.”

Shikadai made a noise, and Shikamaru had a hard time deciding if it was a displeased or a satisfied sound.

“How are you feeling? Did you sleep at all during the night?”

Shikadai didn’t answer.

“They told me you haven’t been eating well.”

No answer.

“Hey”, Shikamaru said and nudged Shikadai on his shoulder. “Talk to me.”

“Don’t you have to head back to Konoha soon?” Shikadai snapped. “I’m sure the Seventh wasn’t happy about you rather abrupt leave.”

“I don’t care what Naruto thinks”, Shikamaru said. “I’m staying here until –“

“Until you expect the Raikage to let me go?” Shikadai snorted. “Then Naruto can start looking for another assistant.”

“Shikadai…”

“This is so unfair”, Shikadai said and he had to strain himself to not let his voice break. He still didn’t move and stared persistently into the wall. “Why did this happen to me? Why not Chocho or Inojin? They were there, too! Why did it happen _to me_?”

“It’s impossible to point out a single factor”, Shikamaru said.

“Ino said that after I get to return home, whenever that is, the first thing I have to do is go to the hospital”, Shikadai mumbled. Shikamaru knew already the plan for when Shikadai would return home, but he didn’t cut in to tell him that. “They will lock me away like a lunatic.”

“That is not true, they will just make sure that you’ll be okay”, Shikamaru said. “And yes, it includes staying in the ward for assessment for a while, but… it’s for your own good.”

“Apparently it will be more dangerous if it happens again. The psychosis. Once is bad enough, but if it happens again… I stopped listening after a while”, Shikadai said.

“Why did you stop listening?” Shikamaru asked.

Shikadai sat abruptly up and glared at his father.

“I wouldn’t be a drag for everyone if you just left me to rot here in some Kumor prison”, he said. “Look at me. I did something horrible, because of me and my _feelings_ – “

“Because of a mental breakdown”, Shikamaru interrupted.

“I single-handedly caused the destruction of a village. How do you think I’m feeling? Use your brain for once.”

He sank down on the bed and pulled the blanket to cover his face.

“Leave me alone”, he muttered from under his hiding.

“Are you giving up?” Shikamaru asked.

“What does it look like?” Shikadai retorted. “Leave me alone, dad.”

“I won’t let you”, Shikamaru said. “I won’t let you give up.”

There was a moment’s pause and silence while Shikadai mulled over Shikamaru’s words. He whipped the blanket off himself and sat up again.

“Funny to hear those words come from your mouth”, he said out of spite.

“I mean it”, Shikamaru said, remembering Ino’s instructions. _Don’t rile him up even if he is picking fights. Keep him as content as possible. _“Suna shinobi don’t give up.”

Shikadai looked at him.

“You are made of the desert”, Shikamaru continued. “You have the fierceness of a hurricane inside you, I know this. Hurricanes bow to no one, not even an illness. I won’t let you give up, Shikadai. You will make this, I’m sure of it.”

“And what about Konoha shinobi?” Shikadai asked, now more softly. He slowly let his walls down for his dad. He found the coffee cup and brought it to his lips.

“Konoha shinobi are not afraid to ask for help”, Shikamaru said. “Remember this, Shikadai. You will have to fight now, but you won’t have to fight alone. We will be here for you. Inojin and Chocho will be here for you. You won’t ever be alone in this.”

His words seemed to cheer Shikadai up.

“They still haven’t interrogated me”, Shikadai said. “But I don’t think I can give them any good reasons why I did it. It’s not really a secret I did it for Inojin.” He looked up at Shikamaru. “How is Inojin doing? Is he also locked up? And Chocho?”

_Of course they haven’t interrogated you, because no one knows if that’s going to trigger another psychosis and people don’t know how to handle you_, Shikamaru thought.

“I’m afraid they are”, Shikamaru said instead. “I can try to convince Arai to let you see each other again.”

“That would be nice. I miss him”, Shikadai said, inhaling sharply while switching subject. “Arai is actually pretty nice. She never yelled at me, unlike the other ones. It was like she understood why I was… the way I was and no one else even wanted to understand.” There was a silence, while Shikadai sighed and rubbed his face. “Do you – do you think they’ll have me serve a sentence here?”

“Konoha will have you”, Shikamaru said. “We won’t let them keep you here. None of you. I’ve already talked to Naruto and he and the Raikage have discussed it through. We just stay until we’ve gotten green light to travel home.”

“When is that?” Shikadai asked.

“Until they have all the information about the Bastards that they feel they need”, Shikamaru said. “In a few days they will send out an army and annihilate the base and the Bastards.“

“Have they found their hideout?” Shikadai asked.

“They haven’t told me”, Shikamaru said. “But Omoi said that every Bastard is now under death sentence. Especially that Nora and Soni.”

“Good”, Shikadai said. “But… will I still be judged? Like… in a trial?”

“I’m afraid, yes”, Shikamaru said. “But we have agreed to have the trial in Konoha after you’ve been dismissed from the hospital. Gaara will also attend the trial as Suna’s representative. He’s your Kage, too.”

Shikadai covered his face with his hands.

“And then everyone will know that Shikadai is a lunatic”, he mumbled into his hands. “What a fucking drag.”

“Would you prefer to keep this a secret?”

“Yes! Or no… I don’t know”, Shikadai said. “It’s going to be impossible to keep it a secret, I guess… Boruto will find out sooner or later and then it’s all over town. Maybe it’s for the better to tell myself than to have everyone know it second hand from Boruto.”

“Ino told me the stigma can feel worse if you’re trying to hide it”, Shikamaru said quietly. “The disorder itself is nothing to feel ashamed of. What you did while in that state was awful, of course, but you should not feel guilty for being driven into it.”

“Yeah”, Shikadai said slowly, shifting his position to draw his knees up to his chest. The coffee had almost gone cold. “I just feel…”

A pause.

“Yes?” Shikamaru said. Shikadai sighed and mulled over if he was really going to admit it.

“I feel like crying”, Shikadai finally said.

“Come here”, Shikamaru said, and wrapped his arm around Shikadai and let his fourteen-year-old son stain his shirt with tears.

“This can’t be true!” Nora yelled and she finished reading the newspapers. “No one died! He did the explosion, but no one died!”

She threw the papers into the wall, sending the sheets flying in a distorted order.

“They tattled”, Soni said and picket up the newspaper and collected the sheets.

“That fucking blond boy did it”, Nora muttered. “He must be the one who told everyone. I was so sure we had Black Hair cornered and we _had_ him! If Blondie wouldn’t have escaped, then we’d won.”

“But who would’ve known he could do such a jutsu”, Soni pondered. “He seemed so weak when he got him. He was small, drugged and sick. And when he performed that jutsu, he was weak from hunger. I’m honestly impressed, making Mashi cut out her own tongue, like, that’s some cool shit.”

Nora snorted at Soni and lifted the bottle to her mouth. The strong burning sensation of alcohol was comforting.

“We should have let him die”, Soni pointed out. “Look! It’s probably Blondie who drew these pictures of us. Remember how he had so much ink and paper in his bag? He was a cute artist with powers to mess with someone.”

Nora continued drinking while peering at the pictures.

“I look older” she said.

“And my eyebrows are not that thin”, Soni sighed. “The kid didn’t even look properly at me.” Soni switched page. “Oh, we’re under death sentence, Nora. Kumo wants to kill us.”

“Of course they want”, Nora said. “Kumo don’t want to admit that we are right.” She took another huge gulp of her distilled alcohol and put the bottle down with a smash. “Let’s kill those Konoha puppies. I know where they are. If they won’t bring justice to this fucking dual citizen system, then we will. They betrayed us, and I’m tired of hiding in the snow. Let’s show them what happens to poor kids betraying the Bastards of Kumo.”

Soni furrowed her brows.

“How do we find them? They’ve cut off their trackers. I mean, I guess they’re in Kumo, but we can’t raid the whole town without getting seen”, she said.

Nora smirked at her.

“Come with me”, she said and led Soni to the kitchen. She opened a cabinet and showed her three tubes, each one with a hair in it.

A blonde hair, a black hair and a caramel hair.

“Ah”, Soni said. “You’ve got a new jutsu.”

“Couple of months old actually”, Nora said. “I found out years ago that some shinobi are born with sensory affinity and I wanted to find out if I was one of them. You are so terrific with your lightning, and Ibi is so strong, too, and I wanted to see if I could specialize in something.”

“I remember”, Soni said. “When you were grumpy for two months non-stop because you wanted to create a new jutsu, and hey, you have to be pretty strong to create new jutsus.”

“And I succeeded”, Nora said. “I worked tirelessly and boom. I found a way of sensing other people. The only thing I need is something from the person and I can find them.” She played around with one of the tubes. “I can pinpoint their location down to the very square metre. I can sense what they sense and feel what they feel. There’s no way of hiding when I’m in the activated jutsu.” She grabbed Soni’s arm and pulled her closer. Their noses almost touched. “And after the doping, we’re going to be unstoppable. We’ll combine our two jutsus, you and me. Your lightning dragon and my sensory jutsu.”

Soni jerked her arm away from Nora.

“I’ll gather the best Bastards we have”, she said. “But the doping won’t be enough for everyone.”

“Everyone?” Nora chuckled, purring with amuse. “I won’t waste our most precious weapon on secondary Bastards. Not all of them have unlocked great powers, some of them only know the transform jutsu. It is us with the prowess who should get the doping. You, me and Ibi.”

“That would allow us to take bigger doses”, Soni pondered.

“And with chakra doping, we’re going to be just as good as those privileged shits born with fancy eye powers or those with hidden jutsus”, Nora said.

“So… we take the doping and infiltrate Kumo”, Soni said. “What do we do then?”

“Then we find Akimichi Chocho, Nara Shikadai of the Sand and Yamanaka Inojin”, Nora said, “and then we kill them. And after that… we riot. We kill every dual citizen we find and kill everyone who tries to stop us. It’s time for us to show the world what we’re made of. Shinobi abandoned by the shinobi world. What a fucking mistake. But it’s too late now for them anyway.”

Soni smiled her trademark sadistic smile. Yes, revenge. Make those filthy mixed breeds pay for betraying them. Make that little blond kid pay for escaping and for hurting Mashi. And for getting her eyebrows wrong.

They walked into the lab. This was where Soni’s wonderful mathematical sense was put to test, where she mixed drugs. The difference with creating synthetic drugs and poison was that poison belonged to the old world. Shinobi had used poison in their weapons for centuries and just as quickly as new poisons were mixed, new antidoted were created to counterattack the poisons. It was a constant battle.

But the thing with drugs was much more intriguing to Soni. Most older shinobi didn’t know how drugs worked. They would categorize drugs with poison by default, and in a way; they were right. Drugs could be poison…

… if they weren’t synthetic. Synthetic drugs didn’t work as poison made of nature’s own reserves. There were no antidotes to her drugs, only time would wear them off. Her drugs were not lethal either. They were just like magic.

They’d tweak and change chakra. They’d suppress the chakra tunnels, disturbing the flow and there was nothing but time to stop that disturbance. But she also had drugs that did the opposite. Drugs that enhanced chakra. Drugs that tripled, quadrupled the chakra reserves and the strength of their jutsus.

Drugs that worked as a cheat code to motherload their chakra up to beyond jonin level.

Later that night Ibi came down to them, as Soni had carefully measured up the black liquid in syringes.

“Is that the powerup?” Ibi asked and Soni hummed in agreement. “How long will it be active?”

“At it strongest, a few days at maximum”, Soni answered. “Though it has never been tested before, so I can’t guarantee.”

“Side effects?”

“Do you know what never has been tested before means?” Soni asked, giving Ibi an unimpressed look. “I don’t know of any side effects. We just roll with whatever we get.” Soni lifted the first syringe and pressed a little of the liquid out of the needle to test the pressure inside it. “Ready?”

Ibi nodded and Soni felt at the veins in the bend of his arm, finding a good, purple vein against his skin. Then Soni stuck the needle inside Ibi’s vein and injected all of the liquid drug inside his blood system.

Nora was up next, and Soni picked up the second syringe, and injected the drug into Nora’s body.

And lastly, she put her own arm under the light of the lamp and injected the final syringe into her own vein.

Within minutes, she felt the change inside her own body. What Soni didn’t know that the person she had stolen the formulas from had bought them from another person, who in his turn was a traveling merchant of obscure curiosities from Sound Country.

What Soni didn’t know was that the formulas, on which she had based her recipes on, came originally from a ninja she never had heard of, but the rest of the shinobi world knew well of. The drug she had concocted was created out of ideas from Orochimaru.

Essentially, she had created a new Curse Mark, a curse that took over the body in the form of a drug, and immediately drove them into what had been called the Second State for those with Orochimaru’s old Curse Marks.

Soni screamed as horns worked their way out of her skull and her fingers turned into claws. Her skin changed into scales, making her kind of look like a dragon. Lightning flashed around her scales. Desperately, Soni looked for help from Nora and Ibi.

Nora’s skin had turned white, covered in ice, while ice and frost surrounded her feet. Her white hair became frozen and a crown of ice surrounded her head. Black stripes in a tiger pattern covered her back and face.

They looked over to Ibi, who had grown a lot. His head hit the ceiling and out of his broad shoulder what appeared to be bones, stuck out. Unfamiliar with his new size he stumbled forward and leaned against the wall. His skin turned hard, almost like concrete.

“What is going on?” he yelled, when feeling at his hardened skin. “What happened to me?”

“Good”, Soni said as she examined her claws. “It worked! Nora, are you okay?”

Nora felt the crown of horn and ice she had on her head. The smile on her lips shone brighter than a thousand suns.

“Let’s show those shinobi that letting us down was the biggest mistake of their lifetime”, Nora said. “Let’s kill those Konoha puppies.”

And thus, the vengeful trio of extreme raw and untried power made their way towards The Village Hidden in the Clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You wanted revenge? You're getting revenge. 
> 
> Teaser! Next chapter is called "Revenge vs. Revenge" ;)


	13. Revenge vs. Revenge

The sixteenth generation of Ino-Shika-Cho sat in one of the cafeterias in Kumo, drinking hot chocolate in silence. Their better halves had gone out on other errands. Temari had taken over the phone in Omoi’s apartment to talk with her brothers and she had done so for the past hour, with no end of the conversation in sight. Shikamaru didn’t even want to think about how expensive that phone bill is going to be, but he knew exactly what Temari wanted to talk to her youngest brother about. About doing regrettable actions in a state of madness.

Sai had gone into town to buy more colourful ink, which he brought to Inojin along with more drawing paper. Inojin had been very happy to see his father detach himself from the black ink he so persistently wanted to use and turn to purple ink, Inojin’s favourite colour, for his sake. They had been drawing together all afternoon. Not any real Ink Beasts, as Inojin’s chakra was mutilated, but in that moment it didn’t matter. They did playful practises in colours and that was enough for Inojin.

Karui, on the other hand, had taken it as her task to help Kumo’s administration to file the whole incident. Her heart was torn in two, the village she had grown up in and loved had been target for an attack and it was _her child_ who was part of the destruction and while she was sad and angry, she was also desperately in need of doing something practical. After hours of talking and processing what had happened to them together with Chocho, she needed to do something else. She was a Kumor, she was a practical woman. Talking and processing only helped so much.

Helping her home village was the second-best alternative.

So, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were alone in the cafeteria. Their talk wasn’t of the happy nature and filled with silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, however, but a very well needed silence.

“I guess Shikadai’s chances to inherit the Nara clan’s head position are ruined”, Shikamaru said after staring into nothingness for a while. “This was exactly what he didn’t need.”

“What do you mean?” Choji asked, and Shikamaru told them about Ensui’s plots. How Shikadai wasn’t seen as suitable because of his heritage, family and affinity, and possible future jobs and missions in Suna. But now. Now it wasn’t about family anymore, it was about his new reputation. Ensui would definitely turn this into a disfavour.

Even if Shikadai technically was innocent, he had still done something horrible. And who knew what stigma he was about to face when the truth comes out, that he had done it all in a state of psychosis? Shikamaru could already hear the whispers. ‘_He is just like his uncle’. ‘He should stay in the desert where people like him belong’. _

Ino twisted awkwardly in her chair.

“You know… you’re not the only one with annoyed clan members”, she admitted. “A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from F… from one of our clan members, and they were extremely disappointed in Inojin. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to say. I just yelled at them to shut up and slammed the phone shut and now, in hindsight, I shouldn’t have solved it that way. That was just childish of me. But god, the things they said about Inojin – it made me so angry!”

“Did they talk about… you know… Inojin and Shikadai?” Shikamaru asked.

“Something along those lines”, Ino said. “Guys, we really need to have a three-clan meeting quite soon.” She threw a glance at Shikamaru. “But not too soon. Shikadai must get a green light from the hospital first, and that will be after a two-weeks’ assessment at the ward, at the earliest. And besides, having clan members talk shit about him straight to his face is not going to help him recover.”

“What about the Akimichis?” Shikamaru turned to Choji. “Have they talked bad about Chocho at all?”

Choji munched silently his cinnamon bun.

“I don’t know”, he admitted. “I don’t listen to that kind of stuff.”

“You don’t know what’s going on in your own clan?” Ino asked.

“Okay, well, if someone has anything to complain they would talk to my father instead of me”, Choji said.

“Why would they talk to Choza instead of you?” Shikamaru asked, eyebrow raised before he realized what was going on. “Are you seriously telling us that your clan members don’t see you as their true leader, but rather your father?”

“Well… um… not really”, Choji said, not looking up from his cinnamon bun. “Or well, sometimes the elder clan members do stuff behind my back, but I don’t care about them. I just gladly continue to live my life, you know.”

“How come we didn’t know about this?” Ino asked.

“Well, it’s just family drama, nothing more”, Choji laughed. “Why are you cornering me here, guys?”

“This is of importance”, Shikamaru muttered as he played around with a cigarette, rolling it between his fingers. “Our children have just been to hell and back, and I know for sure that the second we’re arriving back in Konoha I’ll have a very displeased Nara Ensui at my doorstep who’s not going to stop nagging at me that Shikadai is not the son he wanted me to have, and I’m not having that shit anymore. Not after this.

Yamanaka Fū is having issues with Inojin as an heir because he likes boys and you’re very naïve if you think Chocho is spared of suspicion. The dual citizenship was the foremost reason why Ensui wanted to have Shikadai disinherited in the first place. Well... at least before this disaster came along. We must discuss their future together with all three clans.”

Choji sat silently, looking down at the now empty plate.

“Okay”, he just said. “I understand.”

“Are you in the middle of something important?” That voice belonged to Sai, as he awkwardly stepped into the café with a broad apologetic smile.

Ino stood up and walked up to him. She gave him a fast kiss.

“Nothing urgent”, she said, throwing a gaze at her best friends. “Is something wrong?”

“Inojin wants to talk to you”, Sai said.

“About what?” Ino asked. “You sure there isn’t something to worry about?”

“I’m sure”, Sai said, smiling. “Go to him.”

She made her way together with Sai from the cafeteria up to the prison, where the person working in the info desk greeted them as old friends when Ino flashed with the name tag Arai had provided them.

A guard let Ino and Sai into Inojin’s room, where he had filled his desk with drawings.

“Hi, my love”, Ino said. “You wanted to see me?”

“I want you to teach me what you did to Shikadai”, Inojin spilled without wasting time. “The medical jutsu mixed with Yamanaka jutsus, the treatment you used on him. Teach me.”

That was a lot to ask for. Ino blinked at him for a second or two.

“I want to be ready”, Inojin continued. “If it ever happens again to him – I know if it has happened once it could happen again. I know it’s not likely if he gets the proper follow up-treatment and medication, but if it does, I will be by his side and help him. Help him find his way back to reality.”

“That’s sweet of you”, Ino said. “I can tell you how to do it, but you can’t really learn anything practical right now.” She took his hands and opened them, exposing the seals. “You have to wait until they release you.”

Inojin accepted the bitter truth. He couldn’t perform any jutsus as he was now, and he had kind of hoped Ino would trick the guards into removing the seals from him, but Ino had already spoken out of line in Kumo to help them, so he accepted that this was not going to happen.

“But when is that? I’m getting so frustrated”, Inojin said. “They won’t let me see neither Chocho nor Shikadai and I’ve told them everything I know. I’ve provided them with drawings of Nora and the other ones, why am I still being punished? I’ve done everything I can to help them.”

“Oh, Inojin…”

The roar of thunder interrupted Ino.

Thunderstorms were not unusual to Lightning Country, hence the name. But Ino remembered clearly that when she and Sai walked from the cafeteria to the prison, that the sky was almost clear of clouds. And the few clouds present in the sky had not been thunderclouds. How fast could a storm move in these parts of the continent?

Something felt out of place.

Shikadai’s heart throbbed in his chest in a very unpleasant way when he heard the sound of the thunder. Flashbacks from the lightning that hit him and almost killed him plagued his mind and he had to force himself to count down from a hundred to entertain his mind, to keep him away from bad thoughts.

Another thunder roared across the sky and Shikadai sank into a pile on his bed. His palms were so, so sweaty. The thunder sounded unnatural. It sounded too hostile, too close, like it soared right above the prison.

A lightning hit close to the prison, making the building shake. The rumble of the thunder echoed in his ears.

Fear. It was still there. The fear of lightning, fear of thunder, but even more, the fear of going insane again. He did not want to be alone. Not now. He ran up to the door and pressed the little bell that alerted the guards. _Please, don’t let me be alone. Please, come and pick me up. Take me to Ino, I’m scared of myself._

Chocho looked out of her window and she was not prepared for what she was about to see. The sky was dark, and in its clouds a _dragon made out of lightning_ hovered. The dragon, also known as Kirin, had two heads instead of one and the two heads roared in a symphony of thunder.

“Holy shit”, Chocho mumbled and backed away from the window. This was bad. She didn’t have time to gather her own thoughts before lightning struck dangerously close to the prison. The walls shuddered by the impact of electricity close to the mountain and parts of the concrete ceiling crackled.

Dust and crumbles fell down into Chocho’s bed.

Another lightning hit, strong and without mercy.

Chocho ran and pressed the bell, alerting guards. She was not going to be left, locked inside a prison cell, if this building would raze and come down. Her powers were mutilated by the seals and if this ceiling broke down on her, she would not live to tell the tale.

The door opened almost immediately and Omoi stood on the other side. He had Shikadai by his side.

“Come, come with us now!” he hissed and Chocho dashed out of her cell.

“What is going on?” she asked.

“This Kirin dragon is looking for someone, and we suspect it is you it’s after”, Omoi said. “Come with me, we must get to the Raikage’s office.”

In the lobby of the prison Ino, Sai and Inojin was already waiting for them.

“Ino, I’m scared”, Shikadai said when he saw her and without a word Ino took over Shikadai and held her hand steady at the back of his head.

“It’s okay”, she said. “I’ve got you.”

She didn’t activate any jutsu, but the fact that she was present helped Shikadai calm down. It felt like a relief, like a lifeline as they made their way outside. If he would snap out, Ino would snatch him back again. The uncertainty was the worst thing about this condition.

When they reached the outside, they could only but stare at the magnificent and malevolent lightning dragon in the sky, with horror in their eyes as the bright neon blues roared at them.

_No more lightning, _Shikadai thought to himself and before he even had time to feel the primal fear that came with a flashback Ino had his mind in her gentle touch.

“Move”, she whispered, and they quickly made their way over the streets to the opposite part of the village, while the dragon followed them with its gaze.

The 377 steps of stairs were impossible to just ignore, as lactic acid burned in their thighs when they reached the final step. Everything had just happened so quickly, one second Chocho was zoning out watching the street below her window, one second Inojin planned evolving his jutsus, one second Shikadai had been philosophizing over important questions and the next second a Kirin dragon was roaring above their heads and now they were running to the Raikage’s office just as they had ran away from the explosion.

Will this running ever end?

Another lightning hit the ground and the sound was deafening. Everything was shaking.

Omoi opened the door to the Raikage’s office, and the youngest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho found themselves being stared at by their parents, Nebui, Arai and Darui, the Lord Raikage.

“Here they are”, Omoi said.

“Remove their seals”, Darui commanded.

_Remove their seals?_

“What is going on?” Shikadai asked as Omoi did a series of hand signs to remove the seals from his hands and later removed his shoes to do the same to his feet. Nebui and Arai did the same practise to Inojin and Chocho. Four sets of seals cracked painlessly and disappeared from their hands and feet. Chakra flowed into the hands of the trio, stronger than they had felt in a very long time. They had been abused, hurt, fallen ill and thrown to hell and back and now, for a split second, their bodies felt _normal._

But the situation was everything but normal.

“We have a strong reason to believe this Kirin dragon is after you”, Darui said. “It’s hovering above our village in a search for you. To check this theory, we will send you away to a mountain outside our village borders. If the dragon follows you, we know you were the target all along.”

“Are you sending us away to fight a freaking lightning dragon alone?” Inojin asked. “You are insane!”

Inojin, with his annoying bluntness, did not seem to understand he was talking to a Kage of a village. Darui furrowed his brows but didn’t say anything.

“You are selfish if you think the only way to solve this is by using us as bait”, Inojin continued. “We can’t fight lightning by ourselves. Last time that happened, things could have ended pretty badly.”

“We are not sending you alone”, Darui said after Inojin had finished his angry rant. “Your parents are coming with you.”

Shikadai looked up to his father to receive a nod of confirmation. They had obviously already talked about this before they arrived, when the dragon started towering above the village. They had planned this, Shikadai realized. If someone were to attack the village this soon after the failed terror attack, then the attackers were probably no other than…

… than Nora and Soni and the rest of the Bastards.

That was the true reason for why they hadn’t been able to leave. To see if someone attacked the village. To use them as a bait.

It was a filthy lie to say they weren’t going to be used as a bait, a lie that their parents had promised to agree on. Everything unfolded to Shikadai the second he started analysing. They _knew_ that the Bastards would be after them as the terror attack didn’t have any true impact. Kumo would send them away from the village to avoid casualties.

They would sacrifice them.

“We’ll be there by your side.” Temari’s voice was hard and authoritarian. “You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

“If they attack you, we’ll fight back twice as hard as they”, Karui filled in.

“Trust us”, Ino said.

Temari walked up to her child and handed him his iron fan. Karui walked up to her child and handed her the katana. Ino went up to the desk where Inojin’s scrolls and brushes were waiting for him and handed them to her child.

For the first time since the tranquilization darts had hit the youngest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho in their necks, they were together, armoured, not starving and filled with chakra. Yes, they were still hurt and Shikadai was still under the term of unstable post-psychosis state that still needed treatment, but in the name of crisis his personal needs had to be put aside.

They were shinobi after all.

But it didn’t matter.

They were _together _again.

Another lightning exploded across the dark sky, illuminating the view outside the windows.

Chocho grabbed Inojin’s hand with her left, and Shikadai’s hand with her right. They were together again.

It was true.

Ino-Shika-Cho live and die together.

“You must leave now”, Darui said. “We keep the village safe. You keep yourselves alive, alright? I promise that if you help us defeat these Bastards, you will be pardoned.”

Being pardoned sounded really nice, Shikadai had time to think as they were being shown a secret passageway straight into the mountain.

“This passage will bring us up on the other side of the mountain range”, Karui explained as they made their way in the dark. “Those mountains have good slopes to fight on.” She knew this tunnel quite well, all its quirks and turns, so she took the lead.

The mountain shivered after another huge lightning bolt hit the top of it. Dust and rocks fell from the roof, but Choji made them all feel safe with big expanded arms keeping the roof from breaking down.

Sai’s small Ink Mice ran before them, scouting that nothing out of the ordinary was lurking in the darkness. Ino’s nerves were on tenterhooks, trying to sense for chakra. The only chakra except their own was the huge, dark cloud above them in the sky. As she tried to make more sense out of the Kirin dragon, she realized that the dragon was not only a jutsu.

It was a person. The lightning dragon _was_ a shinobi in disguise. And that shinobi wasn’t alone. What kind of powers does that shinobi have?

Shikamaru hated running in this dark, dark tunnel. It was way too dark for the shadows to be strong. The torch he carried in his hand gave an orange light but as soon as they would reach the other end it would extinguish from the strong wind. The sky was dark outside, putting him in a disadvantage. He had to come up with a good plan.

Though Temari’s face was in a frown, she smiled inside. The wind was on her side tonight. She and Shikadai would be able to give quite the damage to this lightning dragon, especially if it also snowed. They could cause a snowstorm strong enough to cut down a human.

As they made their way out Inojin finally found a new theory on how to combine his jutsus. The answer had been staring him in the face for a long time and his fingers itched as he clasped his brush. A new surprise attack in the face of Nora or Soni would feel really nice. _Just you wait_, he thought to himself, his face in one big grin. _Let the world see what little, weak genin Inojin can do._

They saw the dim light from the other side of the tunnel. Chocho felt nervousness get the better of her when her father, Choji, took her by her arm.

“Chocho”, he said in a quiet voice. “Take these.” He pressed a little container in Chocho’s palm, and she examined the glass box. Three pills, one green, one yellow and one red pill stared back at her. “Use them with care.”

“But papa”, Chocho whispered, the words _I can already use the Butterfly powerup_ were on her tongue, but she knew the way she had been used to use the Butterfly powerup was worthless. She had used it in superficial ways, without being able to unlock any true powers from it. “The Three Coloured Pills are dangerous!”

“Use them with care”, Choji repeated, earning a gaze from Shikamaru, who glanced down at the pills in Chocho’s hand and shared a gaze with Choji. “Unlock your true Butterfly, my baby girl.”

He dropped behind as Chocho emerged from the tunnel on the other side. By the time all nine shinobi had gotten out of the smaller hole, the dragon had stopped above them, not wasting any time. It dived straight at them, but Temari was fast and ripped the snow around them from its resting place, causing a diversion with a snowy hurricane around them.

“RUN!” she shouted, and they made, with various styles, their ways down the hill. The nose of the Kirin dragon hit the ground and caused a great avalanche, just beside them.

A good couple of hundreds of metres later they stopped when the avalanche had settled, and the burning stench from where it had hit stopped oozing.

“What the hell was that?” Karui growled as she stared at the steam coming up from the place where the two-headed dragon had dived and hit its noses. The lightning had disappeared. The dragon was nowhere to be seen. There was only white steam and a stench of burning flesh left.

“Do you feel it, my love?” Ino whispered to Inojin.

“Yes”, Inojin answered. “They are there.”

“There are three shinobi there where the dragon hit”, Ino called out to the rest. “I sense… shit… do you feel that too, guys?”

It was quite impossible to avoid the reek of malice from the three chakra systems hiding in the steam, the true hatred and disappointment coming from Nora, Soni and Ibi.

“Choji”, Shikamaru whispered. “It… feels almost like that one time.”

That one time when they were twelve, only a couple years younger than their children are now, and almost died when fighting against someone who had a Second State available. The steam got blown away by a wind and revealed three silhouettes, but there was something wrong with them. The contours of their bodies didn’t follow that of a normal human body, as there were horns and bones sticking out of everyone.

One of them had horns and claws.

Another one had a malicious looking crown of ice on their head.

The last one was bigger than a normal human with bones sticking out of his shoulders.

“What are their abilities?” Shikamaru asked quietly of Shikadai, who stood beside him.

“I have no idea”, Shikadai mumbled back. “I’ve never seen them in action. Soni, the one with horns, can conjure strong lightning.”

“Must be the one who summoned the lightning dragon”, Shikamaru said. “Guys, we should divide us into groups. There are three enemies, and we have better chances of winning if not all nine of us attack the same target. Ino, Choji and I will take Soni, the woman with horns. Sai, Temari and Karui will take on the big man, Ibi was his name? Inojin, Shikadai and Chocho will take on Nora, the woman with the crown. _SCATTER!_”

As Shikamaru shouted the final word a combined jutsu of lightning and earth was shot towards them, dividing the ground and creating a ravine with a burning lightning bolt. Everyone jumped away from the exploding ground in the formations Shikamaru had told them, and their enemies followed them as well.

Temari, Karui and Sai made their way uphill, where the wind was stronger while being followed by Ibi. The bones sticking out of his shoulders looked hostile.

“You have no idea what I can do”, he yelled after them. “I am unstoppable, you know. You don’t know the power of Soni’s drugs. I will smash you to a mush of blood and flesh.”

“Let’s find that out”, Karui said and smiled to him, unsheathing her katana from her back. Temari unfolded her fan and Sai had a paint brush in his hand. They were ready.

Ino, Shikamaru and Choji made their way west of the mountain, having the lightning woman follow them. She looked absolutely crazy when she smiled to them, collecting lightning bolts in her hands.

“Do you know the feeling when your chakra is unlimited?” Soni laughed at them. “I do now. And it feels like an orgasm, I tell you. Let me demonstrate what it means to use a cheat code in the world of shinobi. Let me show you how you will die.”

“Okay, guys”, Shikamaru whispered to the others. “Let’s show her what Ino-Shika-Cho is all about.”

Nora wasted no time when she followed the youngest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho down the hillside of the mountain. With every step she took, ice and snow twirled around her feet, freezing everything she touched into ice crystals.

“Come on, children”, Nora said, smiling constantly. “Don’t you want to revenge me? Your chakra is not disturbed anymore. Show me what you got.”

Shikadai unfolded his fan, Inojin had his scrolls ready and Chocho showed her fists.

“Remember, boys”, Chocho said. “Remember our motto.”

“What motto?” Shikadai asked between clenched teeth.

“Ino-Shika-Cho live and die together”, Chocho said, not lifting her gaze from Nora. “Let’s live together.”

Another thunder shot across the sky.

And thus, the fighting began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the next chapter is called "To live and die togehter."
> 
> (Hopefully you haven't forgot about all the clan drama, because Ensui sure has not)


	14. To live and die together

**Sai, Temari and Karui vs. Ibi**

“We should name this group”, Sai said to his two temporary teammates as they looked down at the big man making his way up to them.

“What?” Temari didn’t take her eyes off the man.

“Because we’re the only group without a name”, Sai continued. “Our spouses and our children have a team name that is old and used, we should have one, too.”

“You have time to think of a _name?_” Karui hissed.

“Sai-Tema-Ka”, Sai concluded.

“Why is my name last?” Karui asked.

“Because Choji and Chocho’s names are last”, Sai said. “I just followed their order. You know, the Yamanaka come first, then the Nara and last the Akimichi.”

“Fine”, Temari growled. “Sai-Tema-Ka it is.”

The man, Ibi, dug his hands down into the mountain and _ripped _a huge boulder out of the mountain.

“Okay, fuck, we would really need Choji now”, Karui hissed as Ibi threw the boulder at them. They scattered, avoiding the rocks torn from the boulder when it hit the mountain side.

“Let’s assess his abilities!” Temari shouted to Karui. “Start with a melee attack. You go first!”

“Let’s see if he’s as though as he looks like”, Karui mumbled to herself as she slid down the slope to Ibi.

And so Karui raised her katana and slashed through the air at Ibi. Her chakra flowed strong in her arms, delivering a great blow. Ibi didn’t even have a chance to jump away from her and he grabbed the sharpened edge of the katana with his bare hands.

Karui tilted the katana to add more pressure, to cut through his palms, but he held her weapon in an iron grip in his hands. There was not a single strike of blood on his palms. She twisted her body and kicked him in his side and that kick seemed to be strong enough for him to flinch. Karui snatched the katana out of his grip and was hit by his big fist.

She fell on her back, hard, so all air got pushed out of her lungs. Ibi ran up to her and lifted his foot to stomp at her and she quickly rolled to her side to avoid being stomped at. Shit, he was really strong, and her lungs hurt.

“Karui!”

A strong wind pushed her away from the place where Ibi’s big foot rammed down. Temari ran up to Ibi, and in her turn struck the fan right in the back of his head. Ibi fell on his knees as Temari used his body as a ledge to jump up and thrust air at him.

His skin didn’t rip the way a normal human body gets sliced by Temari’s Wind Style. Temari withdrew with Karui behind a boulder to where Sai was.

“He has a really strong chakra control in his feet”, Temari told them. “The wind doesn’t send him flying the way it usually does.”

“And his skin is hardened”, Karui filled in. “The katana didn’t slice his hands even though he grabbed it barehand. I assume your wind didn’t harm him either.”

Temari was infuriated. Really, really mad. She could deliver a good blow at Uchiha fucking Madara, but not hurt this never-heard-shinobi, who just happened to be blessed with a cheat code allowing him to have flawless chakra control in his feet and an impenetrable skin. She turned to Sai, who was in deep thought.

“I’ve got an idea”, Sai said. “But I need time. More time.”

“What is it?” Temari asked. “You haven’t even tried your Beasts on him.”

“If neither sharp steel nor wind can hurt him, then my Beasts will be futile”, Sai concluded. “I’ve got something that might break that armour skin of his, but I need to alternate the ink I’m using. You two, distract him!”

Temari and Karui ran back into the fight with Ibi, who turned again into throwing boulders at them. They quickly noticed that this man didn’t actually know how to fight. He hadn’t been trained in taijutsu, that was clear, because he was somewhat clumsy. His apparent only strengths were his hardened skin and the fact that he was immovable by any outer source.

The hardened skin meant trouble, Temari realized. It worked similarly to Gaara’s impenetrable sand shield.

An Ink Beats, a lion roared above them. Sai was finished with his preparations and commanded the Ink Lion to attack Ibi. But just as the lion’s teeth were about to sink into his arm, the formation of the Beast broke, and ink splattered all over Ibi’s arm and torso.

“Is that all you got?” he asked. “You’re going to _paint_ me? What a piss poor excuse of a shinobi.”

Sai brought up his fingers in the activating sign and said:

“Now.”

Then something happened. A fizzy sound could be heard from the ink on Ibi's skin and he _screamed._

“What did you do?” Karui asked Sai, delighted at the pain Ibi was showing.

“I turned the ink into Acid Ink”, Sai said. “It corrodes his skin.”

Acid Ink. Why didn’t they thought of that before?

Sai rolled out his scroll again and kept drawing, but this time Ibi knew what was up. He had ripped out a boulder again, wielding it like a shield in front of his. Now, all of a sudden, Ibi had found his true fighting spirit. Apparently, the acid was so painful that he did everything to avoid getting hit again.

His body moved like his clumsiness never had been present in the first place, always keeping the boulder in front of his so the Acid Ink Beasts couldn’t touch him.

Temari grabbed the collar of Karui and Sai to get them closer.

“I’ve got a plan”, she whispered. “Listen closely.”

Ibi walked after them with his rock shields at the ready. Temari jumped up in front of him, and attacked with her Wind Style, but she wasn’t aiming at him but at the snow around them.

“Wind Style! Wind Dragon!” she shouted, and a tornado of wind and snow ruptured out of the ground. The whirling snow blinded Ibi and all the small snowflakes that got into his eyes and eyelashes impaired his vision. He slashed furiously with the rock shield around him as he heard footsteps running towards him.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

When Ibi got the snow out of his eyes he found himself surrounded by _a lot_ of Karuis. They had him surrounded in a circle. Ibi knew of clones and apparently that woman had created quite a lot of them.

“It doesn’t matter how many of you there are!” Ibi shouted at her. “I can block clone katanas, too, you bitch.”

The Karuis attacked and Ibi let the sword sink into his arm. Most of the clones danced around him while one of them in particular attacked a little feistier than the rest. That clone wasn’t that good, Ibi concluded, as it hit him in the arms for most of the time. It didn’t hurt. Steel didn’t hurt him, and he deliberately let her hit him in the arms and torso.

Being unstoppable felt good. As long as those Ink Lions didn’t appear, he was safe. He concentrated, tried to find the original. The feisty clone attacked again and this time he decided to put an end to its annoying dance. Just as she sliced the katana in his chest he jumped forward and grabbed her torso. To his surprise the katana didn’t go up in smoke after it bent from his pressure like a clone katana should do but fell on the ground.

He had the original, he realized. The real original Karui was the stupidest of them all and allowed herself to be caught instead of sending a clone. He laughed as he put pressure on her torso in his grip and Karui became out of breath.

“Now”, Karui hissed and the clones attacked him. Ibi didn’t care, because if her sword couldn’t do any harm, why would the swords of the clones do the job. Three clones struck as once in his back, but the swords didn’t bend off like they do when hitting his hard skin, they went right through his skin and sank right into his ribcage.

The hardened skin had failed him.

He dropped Karui and howled at the pain as the skin around the katanas stuck in his back corroded. Then he understood what was going on.

They weren’t any Shadow Clones.

They were _Acid Ink Beasts _in the form of Karui_. _Sai had drawn _her_ on his scrolls instead of an animal beast, and the Ink Beasts had fought as if they were clones, ultimately fooling Ibi. He had used coloured ink, after all. Sai smiled to himself. Inojin will have the biggest grin on his face when he learns his father had used coloured ink to win a fight.

“Now”, Sai said, and the Ink Katanas combusted inside Ibi’s chest, letting the acid pour inside his body, corroding his heart and lungs.

Sai had won over him.

Ibi fell on his front and when he looked up, he stared in the faces of three shinobi. The woman with the katana, was undoubtedly Chubby’s mother. They shared the skin and the eyes. The blonde woman, that must be Black Hair’s mother, as her green eyes were as striking as her son’s. And finally, the pale man with the Acid Ink, he has to Blondie’s father. He had those same scrolls after all.

They looked at him with disgust in their eyes.

Ibi closed his eyes.

“Sorry for taking your kids…”

Then his heart stopped beating and lungs stopped working.

**Ino, Shikamaru and Choji vs. Soni**

_That woman is crazy_, Shikamaru thought as Soni moved closer to them. Her horns worked like antennas for signals, and the signals they were attracting were lightning.

“Come out from you hiding”, she yelled at them. “If you care about your stupid little brats, come and avenge them! I hurt them; you know? I shot lightning through Shikadai’s heart, I almost killed him, but his disgusting little blond boyfriend saved his ass.”

_And she’s not patient at all. That will be her downfall._

Shikamaru clenched his fist at Soni’s hurtful words. She must be brought down to earth, and preferably –

“Let’s kill her”, Ino said, interrupting Shikamaru’s thoughts. “There’s no hope for a madman like that.”

“Ino…” Choji said and everyone knew he hated killing, he hated hurting anything living, but his two friends got riled up by Soni’s words. This was personal now. She had tried to kill Shikadai and she insulted Inojin right in their faces. This was so goddamn personal now.

They’ve heard from the interrogations the story of how Inojin saved Shikadai’s life earlier and somehow, looking the woman who had done it, was like the final piece in the puzzle of truly understanding what their children had gone through.

This battle was all about revenge, after all.

Soni and her team wanted to commit a terror attack because they wanted to show their hurt to Kumo. They kidnapped a young team to manipulate into doing their dirty business. They almost killed their children. Or rather… _she_ wanted to kill their children.

“And that blond little kid, Inojin was his name”, Soni continued, electricity crackling around her hands. “We almost killed him, too. Put a little too much drug in his tiny, fragile body. We’re not good at keeping kids safe and sound, it seems.”

“I want to stuff her mouth full of snow and suffocate her”, Ino whispered with tears in her eyes.

“We can’t kill her”, Choji said. “She must be brought to justice – “

“She is crazy!” Ino said. “Shikamaru, what do you think? Death or not?”

Shikamaru looked at the woman walking up to them and felt rage crawl down his spine.

“I’m sorry, Choji”, he then said. “I know shinobi has been spared in the past when committing crimes but right now I’m in no mood of mercy. Choji, we have to do this. Focus your heart on Chocho instead. Make her proud of her papa. I know you can do this.”

In that moment, even Choji understood. He swallowed and nodded quietly.

“But your shadows are not going to work”, he said. “The sky is too dark.”

He was right. The sun had gone down since long and the dark clouds covered all the stars and the tiny new moon. Shikamaru’s ultimate weapon was weakened.

“I know what to do”, he then said.

Lightning shot through the air, shot at the substitute clones Shikamaru and Choji created as a diversion for Soni to fall for.

“Aren’t you fucking weak”, Soni yelled as she shot yet another substitute clone, which turned into a stone. “Can’t you fight on your own? Are you shinobi at all, damn it?”

“Super Expansion Jutsu!”

From their hiding place, Choji stepped forward, growing in size to his giant mode. Soni glared up at him and at the tiny Ino and tiny Shikamaru standing on his shoulders. She pressed her hands down on the ground and a flash of lightning charged along the ground straight to Choji. Damn, she was so fast, too fast.

Choji stepped backwards, but his big size turned out to be less of an advantage when trying to avoid the flashes that charged straight to his feet. But once they struck his feet, his size turned out to be the advantage.

The lightning never travelled further up his legs. Yes, it was painful for him, but ineffective for Soni.

“Damn it!” Soni yelled. She put her hands together into a series of signs and a circle of fire around her quickly melted the snow. She loaded lightning into the water and moved her hands again in another series of signs.

“How many chakra natures does she have?” Shikamaru had time to shout as the water she had melted came rushing towards them filled with electricity. “Choji!”

Choji turned his back towards the water, and luckily, _very luckily, _his armoured back conducted the electricity and kept it in his armour. The thick leather of his jacket didn’t let any of it go past its surface.

Shikamaru and Ino hung by his hair on his front side.

“Shikamaru, I can’t get a good shot”, Ino hissed to him as the electricity crackled and burned around them.

“I know you can!” Shikamaru insisted back. “I trust you, Ino. You can do this. Choji, turn around again!”

Choji turned around as Ino climbed up on his shoulder again, staring intensely at Soni. Three chakra natures or not, now she seemed to be a little bit tired after using three of them in a row.

“Shikamaru, hold me”, Ino said and formed her hands into the Mind Transfer sign and all of a sudden, she wasn’t on Choji’s shoulder anymore, she was inside Soni. Shikamaru grabbed her body before she fell off Choji and he jumped down in Choji’s shadow with her limb body.

_What the hell is this? _Soni snarled at Ino as she fought to gain complete control. Her limited know-how about how to beat mental jutsus worked in Ino’s favour. _Get out of my head, you bitch!_

_Never! _Ino hissed back at her. _Now tell me, what are the signs for your lightning dragon?_

_You can’t control my hands!_

_I can do whatever I want with you._

_You! You’re Blondies mum, aren’t you? He cut out the tongue of one of my subordinates. Fucking little shit._

_He’s a good boy, _Ino said. _Now, show me those damn signs!_

Ino forced herself into controlling Soni’s nerves and she lifted her hands. Soni didn’t do it for free, though, as her chakra was currently greater than Ino’s and it was only sheer luck that she did that triple-jutsu before, making her chakra run a little bit lower.

Four hand signs later thunder roared, and a two-headed dragon manifested on the sky. It looked malicious as it roared, activating the bolts and then lightning struck across the sky.

Ino was kicked out of Soni’s mind, but it didn’t matter, because they got the dragon. The strong light from the lightning cast a great shadow from Choji’s big body, giving Shikamaru the shadows he needed.

Because Choji was so tall and wide and his shadow big, the shadow stretched fast and reached Soni in the matter of seconds. She understood to avoid it too late and was locked in place.

“Shadow Paralysis Jutsu, complete”, Shikamaru said with a great smile on his face. He walked closer to Soni.

“What the fuck is this?” she growled.

“The power of Ino-Shika-Cho”, Shikamaru answered when he got close to her. She was strong, and the shadow won’t hold for long. But Shikamaru was also strong, strong by rage. “You tried to kill my son.”

“Yes, I did”, Soni snarled at him.

“Shadow Strangle Jutsu.”

This time, Shikamaru didn’t release the grip around her throat before Soni laid dead on the ground.

**Inojin, Shikadai and Chocho vs. Nora**

“Holy shit, holy shit”, Inojin yelled as they jumped over a ravine. “She’s following us!”

“Of course she’s following us, she wants to kill us”, Chocho shouted. “Shikadai! We kind of need that plan right now!”

“Aaaah, hell, I can’t think of one right now!” Shikadai yelled back. “I’m going to see if wind works on her.”

He stopped and hacked the fan into the ground, gathering all chakra he could muster in his arms. It was still a very new feeling after the week of constantly having his chakra mutilated, either by drugs or by burned seals. His hands moved into three signs…

Snake. Dragon. Bird.

… and he lifted his fan and thrusted air in the shape of the hurricane at Nora.

“Wind Style! Sickle Weasel Jutsu!”

As the hurricane closed around Nora walls of ice rose from the ground and blocked the wind from harming her. Shikadai’s hurricane was strong and crushed the ice, but it turned out that breaking the ice was a disfavour. The spiky fragments of ice got caught in the hurricane and was sent back to them as life threatening projectiles.

The projectiles managed to hit Chocho, but Shikadai remained unharmed, as he used his fan as a shield, and Inojin had painted a purple Ink Beast that took the blow for him.

“Chocho, are you all right?” Inojin asked her when she removed her jacket to expose the cuts in her torso.

“No”, she said. “But that doesn’t stop me.”

She fiddled with the food pills her father had given her in the tunnel.

“Chocho, you do know what those do to you?” Shikadai asked warily from behind the shelter of the fan. “Don’t take the red pill.“

“I’d rather go down my own way than getting hit in the throat by an ice projectile –“ Chocho began to say as a snowstorm started from nothing and whirled around them.

“Wind?” Nora’s voice echoed inside the snow hurricane. “You’re a Wind user, huh, Nara Shikadai of the Sand? So am I. And your little wind is nothing compared to my storms. You may be a hurricane, but I am a storm.”

Shikadai grabbed Inojin and pulled him close behind the shield of his fan, so close their noses touched.

“Inojin“, he began. “I have faith in you. Bring her down.”

He yanked Inojin into a kiss before pulling away. Inojin threw out his scroll and painted furiously yellow, seafoam green and baby blue birds and commanded them to activate.

“Ninja Art! Beast Scroll Imitation Drawings!”

The birds turned into living weapons and dashed upwards towards Nora. Then Inojin did something he hadn’t tried before. This was an experiment, a prototype jutsu. He rose and tucked the brush behind his ear, forming his fingers into a square.

“Mind Transfer Jutsu!”

What Inojin did was splitting his mind and transferring it into all the birds, instead of to a human victim. Shikadai grabbed the unconscious body before Inojin had time to hit the snow.

“Please, let it work”, Shikadai whispered.

Nora raised her hands and ice projectiles attacked the Ink Birds, splashing them open, but as long as just one single bird made it past the projectiles and made it to her face, so she was forced to look straight at the bird, then –

Inojin was thrown into Nora’s head and he forced her to drop her hands, to inactivate the jutsu. The snowstorm stopped.

_Get out of me, you filthy little –_

_No!_

“Chocho, now!” Shikadai shouted over the battlefield and Inojin inside Nora’s body looked up in time to see Chocho jump right over them …

“Partial Expansion Jutsu!”

… and hit Nora with a great punch in the face. Her crown of ice shattered, and she was thrown backwards many metres. Inojin jerked awake in his own body and he brought up a hand to his temple.

“Oh god, it huts getting hit in somebody else’s body”, he mumbled.

“Great job stopping her”, Shikadai said to him and removed the fan as shield. “Come on! Let’s attack her. I’ll trap her.”

He had time to debate whether trapping or attacking was a better choice, as he had a hard time concentrating in the heat of a stressful situation and shadows require concentration. Nora, still laying on the ground, laughed.

“Good job, kids”, she said. “Too bad it won’t last.”

She did a series of signs and spikes of ice emerged from the ground. She jerked up and ran up to Inojin. He drew an Ink Lion in panic and commanded it to attack her, but she only had to touch it for it to turn into ice and break into pieces.

Her fingers were just a heartbeat away from Inojin’s face when she was locked in a paralysis.

“Shadow Paralysis Jutsu, complete”, Shikadai said as he was crouching on the ground.

Holy shit, this paralysis would be a drag to keep up, she was too strong, he thought. Too strong for him to have power to change sign from Rat to Dragon to Tiger to Rat so he could strangle her. If he even for a second let the Rat sign go, she would break free.

“What is this?” Nora muttered. “Stupid little trap.”

“Do something!” Shikadai shrieked to his teammates as he felt the shadow weaken and weaken. It was too dark outside; the shadow was too weak.

Nora concentrated, gathered more chakra from her reserves and a new crown of ice grew out of her scalp. The shadow around her legs snapped and she twisted her hands in a simple sign and the snow around the feet of Shikadai turned into an avalanche, bringing him with it as it stormed towards the ravine and Shikadai’s incoming death. Shikadai tried to get out of the tumbling snow chaos around him, but everything he tried to tie his chakra to – the ground – a boulder – anything was swept away by the avalanche. Nora smiled. Being crushed to death felt like a suitable way to get rid of him.

“Shikadai!” Inojin shouted and ran beside the avalanche. He created an Ink Bird that followed the avalanche and hoped for – no forced – it to reach Shikadai in time before the ravine came.

Nora decided to leave Inojin for later and turned to Chocho. Chocho attacked her with her big arms and big fists and they engaged in a bloody taijutsu fight. Chocho might be six years younger than Nora, but they had both trained shinobi techniques for equally long time. Taijutsu might not be Chocho’s strongest suit, but it was neither Nora’s. Chocho’s big expanded arms worked as a sufficient shield for Nora’s ice spears, but then, in the heat of the moment she misjudged a distance and blotted her stomach, leaving it open.

Nora did not hesitate when she stabbed her ice spear straight into Chocho’s belly and let it sink into her abdomen.

“No!” That was Inojin and Shikadai’s combined shouts. Nora turned around and huffed out of displease. So, Inojin had managed to save Shikadai in time, after all.

Chocho whimpered in front of her, grabbing the ice spear with her hands, that were now of normal size. The great pain had broken the expansion jutsu.

“And now you’ll die”, Nora said to Chocho, who to her great surprise, smiled.

“You think so?” Chocho said. Her breathing was picking up in pace and her belly was painted red with blood. Give her a few seconds and she will die.

Maybe third time is the charm. Inojin had survived his overdose. Shikadai had survived the lightning through his heart.

But a spear through the intestines, that will for sure kill Chocho.

Chocho smiled as her abdomen cramped and she vomited up blood.

“What are you up to?” Nora hissed and Chocho lifted her hand, where a green and a yellow round pill hid. Chocho put the pills in her mouth and ate them. “Spit it out!”

Pink chakra broke out of Chocho’s body, whizzing around her arms as she ripped the spear out of her belly.

“Don’t underestimate me”, she hissed, and two pink butterfly wings tore out of her back. Nora tried to jump away but being powered up by the Butterfly Mode Chocho was straight after Nora, and she grabbed Nora’s arm.

Nora had time to stare at Chocho and try to understand why she wasn’t dead already. She had also used some sort of chakra doping, she realized, when she noticed how the pink chakra covered the hole in Chocho’s belly as some sort of protection.

Chocho’s hands, now stronger than they ever been before clutched Nora’s neck. Nora wheezed as she tried to breathe and the layer of ice that quickly covered Chocho’s hands didn’t have any effect.

“Why?” Nora tried to say as she gasped for breath.

“On behalf of all dual citizens of Kumo”, Chocho began, but as Shikadai and Inojin walked up beside her she changed her mind. “On behalf of all dual citizens of all nations, I sentence you to die.”

Would Chocho be able to do it?

She had been brought up in a world of kindness. The missions Team 10 had had so far included finding missing people or missing animals, escorting important ladies, protecting important lords and be of service in other ways.

She had never hurt another one with the intention of seriously wounding that person, or even worse, killing them.

Her father spoke kindly of other people. He was the living establishment of kindness. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. But her mother, her mother would rely on violence if she had to and her mother was brought up in the North, where they were now. The cruelty of the dark North flowed in Chocho’s veins.

Chocho looked at Inojin. He had had a woman cut out her own tongue, disabling her for life.

Chocho looked at Shikadai. He had blown up a building in a desperate try to save the one he loved.

Chocho looked at Nora and gripped her throat harder.

Inojin and Shikadai looked away, but the sound of blood splattering and the spinal cord being crushed between Chocho’s hands would haunt them forever.

During this week, this mission that was supposed to be fun and games, they had grown up and had become the living embodiment of what it truly meant to be a soldier and a shinobi. They had learned to face horrors and death.

They had killed for the first time in their lives.

And it felt horrible.

Then Chocho collapsed in a coughing mess.

“My… my wounds”, she whispered as she clutched her stomach. “I forgot, Inojin. Must not remove foreign object without a medic. Sorry.”

“It’s okay”, Inojin quickly said. “Let me heal you.”

He felt the stab on her stomach with his healing chakra and tried to not flinch at the depth of it. The spear had almost reached her backbone. Before, it was the green Spinach Pill and the yellow Curry Pill that had kept her ongoing on adrenaline, overpowered chakra and steroids, but now that the effect was weakening, so was Chocho.

“She hit the left kidney and ripped her intestines”, Inojin mumbled as his chakra reached into the wound. “Chocho, stay with me. I’ll fix this. Shikadai, help me.”

Shikadai grabbed Chocho’s hand to warm it. He positioned himself so Chocho couldn’t see what Inojin was doing.

“You’re doing really good”, Shikadai said, trying to grab Chocho’s attention.

“Would’ve been unfair to you if I wasn’t badly hurt on this mission”, Chocho said, smiling.

“I would love to have you unhurt”, Shikadai said.

“Inojin got so sick from the overdose”, Chocho mumbled. “And you got injured from the lightning. Sorry for stabbing you, but I had to –“

“Chocho, I’ve forgiven you”, Shikadai interrupted. “Inojin, how is it looking?”

“I’m trying, but I’ve never tried to heal organs before, this is different than muscle tissue”, Inojin hissed back. “Keep her awake.”

“I’m sorry, Shikadai, that I left you at the conference”, Chocho said, her eyes starting to dart from left to right. “I should’ve not stayed at my seminar. I should have found you. I should have kept you safe. I’m so sorry, I caused your disorder.”

“No, no, it wasn’t your fault”, Shikadai said. “I promise you I don’t blame you. Chocho, this is no place to talk about such things.”

“I’ll always root for you two”, Chocho continued. “You’re so good for each other… You and Inojin. I want you to be happy…”

“Chocho, I want you to be here with us”, Shikadai said. “Look at me, Chocho. We’re going to go home together after this. Inojin! Is she okay?”

“Soon”, Inojin said between his teeth. “This is really hard.”

“Going home sounds really nice…”

“Well, work harder”, Shikadai snapped and when he looked back at Chocho, she had closed her eyes. “No! Chocho, don’t give up.” 

Chocho opened her eyes again.

“Fooled you”, she said and chuckled as a little line of blood found its way out of the corner of her mouth. Her face wrinkled in pain from the movement her chuckle caused in her torso.

“Please, don’t fool me”, Shikadai said. “You’re doing so good.”

“I think I’m dying”, Chocho mumbled.

“Stop saying such things!” Inojin yelled. “I am just about to finish; can’t you just _stay alive_ for me for one more second?”

The seconds passed on so slowly. Chocho had her eyes half-closed and Shikadai stroke her sweaty forehead. He felt her slip away from him and in that second, he knew he would not remain sane ever again if she died right there in his lap. His hands were shaking again, and his head got dizzy.

“Please, don’t die”, he whispered.

For him, this was just like holding Inojin’s lame body in his lap. For Inojin, it was just like trying to get Shikadai’s heart to beat again.

And none of them were going to give up.

“I made it!” Inojin yelled. “Chocho, say something.”

She was silent. Inojin shook her hand to get a reaction. Shikadai felt how all warmth disappeared from his body and he had time to think _I’m going insane again._

“No”, Inojin whispered when he let Chocho’s hand go, and he put a bloody hand up to his face and just as he was about to break down, he heard something.

“It hurts much less now, Inojin.”

“Oh, god”, Inojin exhaled and collapsed down on his butt. “Oh god. Oh god. Chocho, you can’t _do that!_ I thought I lost you.” He put his hands against his face and breathed slowly in and out. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah”, Chocho said and smiled a bloody smile. “Ew, my mouth tastes like blood, ugh.”

“I managed to stop the internal bleeding, so you won’t vomit up more blood”, Inojin told her. “Everything is intact now. You’ll survive. Oh, _god_, that was difficult.”

“Inojin, you’re the best”, Shikadai said with Chocho’s hand against his mouth, eyes closed because his head was so, so dizzy, and he was a second away from loosing it again but by some miracle he remained _there_.

Chocho held on tight to Shikadai’s hand and grabbed Inojin’s hand. She squeezed them both.

“Thank you, both of you”, she said with a smile. “Remember our motto. Ino-Shika-Cho will live together.”

In that moment none of them could keep their tears of relief back. Ugly sobs mixed with desperate laughter echoed down the ravine.

“Forever.”

It was over. They had won_. _There were no more pain and fear. They had _won_.

The parents later found their children hugging each other, as if they were never going to let go, on the blood-soaked snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They made it! They won! Hereby I declare the angst part over.
> 
> But how will the rest of the world react to the adventure of theirs?
> 
> Did you like the fights?


	15. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday I wrote the final line of the final chapter and to say the least, I got pretty emotional. Enjoy these last chapters, because I sure enjoyed writing them immensely.

The road home went smoothly. As the Raikage and the other two Kages had listened to Sakura over the phone and to Ino, they promised to have the trial after Shikadai had spent some time in Konoha’s hospital, after the doctors knew for sure on which basis the psychosis had begun.

Chocho and her family decided to remain in Kumo for a few extra days, so the Yamanaka family and the Nara family made their way home together. Instead of walking through Frost Country and Hot Spring Country to take the train home they bought ridiculously expensive tickets to the cruise ferry from Lightning Country to Water Country, to Kiri, and from there take another ferry to Fire Country. Anything to avoid Frost Country.

They had bought tickets to two cabins, with the intention of having one family sleep in one and the other family in the other but after Inojin’s extremely prestigious convincing in having all the parents crammed into one of the cabins and letting him and Shikadai have the other cabin for themselves, they listened to the begging of the teenage boy.

“Do you… do you think they’re… you know?” Sai started awkwardly while the four parents sat in the restaurant longue of the ferry, as he did suspicious hand gestures.

“Sai”, Ino interrupted him. “They’re just fourteen, don’t think about such things.”

“You sure you didn’t think about those things when _you_ were fourteen?” Shikamaru teased.

“Shut up”, Ino said, eyes narrowed.

“Well, sometimes we must have The Talk with him”, Sai continued.

“Not now”, Ino said and glared daggers at Sai, begging him to get the hint that she did _not_ want to talk about what two lovebirds would possible do in a cabin they had for themselves.

“How was Inojin when he told you?” Temari asked, shifting the focus of discussion. “About Shikadai and him?”

“Very embarrassed”, Ino admitted. “I mean, I knew it – “

“I knew it, too, before you told me”, Sai said and Ino turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

“Huh? You didn’t tell me you knew it before that”, she said accusingly.

“He had drawn him a lot”, Sai said, smiling fondly at the memory of him looking through some paintings and drawings Inojin had left scattered around the painting studio. “So, I guessed. I draw you a lot.”

Ino blushed and to not make things awkward – they were going to share cabin with Temari and Shikamaru after all – she returned the question.

“Well, he never confessed anything to me”, Shikamaru sighed. “This little mission came in the way, but I got it confirmed when they kissed in front of everybody. I guess they… are not ashamed of it anymore.”

He leaned back, finishing the beer he had bought.

“Hopefully they will be treated with respect”, he mumbled absentmindedly. He was thinking about Ensui, and his upcoming reaction to the news, and knew that his son and his boyfriend will obviously not be treated with respect.

“Yeah…” Ino said. “I know my clan elders don’t like it.”

“Oh fuck, that clan thing”, Temari snorted. “That must be sorted out, too. But I will literally flog that Nara Ensui if he tries to bully Shikadai before he has gotten the approval from the doctors that he is fine.”

“It’ll take two weeks”, Ino said. “That’s the standard assessment time at the ward.”

“Hm”, Temari said and drank from her beer. She glanced at the clock, knowing that Ino will soon go down to the cabin to check up with the boys. To check Shikadai. Temari was so sick of not knowing what was going on with her son and what had happened in his brain.

So secretly, she was relieved to have Shikadai spending time at the hospital, just to give herself some time to sort out her own thoughts and she felt so, so guilty for that.

“I’ll go down and check on them”, Ino said. “Then I’m going to bed. Are you joining?”

They did join her.

“I don’t want you, to under any circumstances feel like we’re trying to lock you in”, Sakura said slowly, with emphasis on each word. She had just explained to Shikadai why he had to spend two weeks at the ward; to get rest, sleep and an evaluation. She had just shown him the room he would stay at.

Shikadai felt the bed, it was a soft bed, and without a word started to arrange his clothes into the wardrobe in the room.

“Do you have any questions?” Sakura asked.

“Am I allowed to have visitors?” Shikadai said. “I spent four days in a Kumor prison cell where only mum and dad could come, and it was so troublesome.”

“This is absolutely not isolation”, Sakura said, but she hesitated. She sighed and looked warily Shikadai in his eyes. “You are allowed visitors after your first week here, within the visiting hours. This an open ward, but you can’t have visitors running around here. You must focus on yourself here.”

“I can focus even if I get visitors”, Shikadai said defiantly.

“After the first week”, Sakura said.

“What a fucking drag.”

Sakura shot him a look, considering whether she should call him out or not.

“Falling mentally ill is never fun. But we’re here to make sure you’ll stay okay, and we’re doing this for your sake. So don’t curse at me”, Sakura finally said and Shikadai lowered his gaze, feeling embarrassed by being called out.

“Sorry.”

Sakura offered a sympathetic smile to him.

“It’s important for you to understand that we want you here with your own best interests in mind. This is no prison.”

“And after the two weeks, will I go back to duty?” Shikadai asked.

“I will assign you one month’s sick leave”, Sakura said. “We have to be sure that you’re able to take care of yourself even during stress before the Seventh assign you missions again.”

One month’s sick leave? On top of the two weeks stay in the hospital? What a drag.

“It’s important now that you are resting”, Sakura said. “Have you been able to sleep during the nights?”

Shikadai shook his head.

“My sleep is broken”, he said, and Sakura frowned. “When I close my eyes, I just see… I just… I hate trying to fall asleep, okay.”

Because when he was trying to sleep it felt like everything was falling down on him and it wasn’t unusual for him to cry during the nights, but that was a secret not even Inojin knew of. He hated, hated, _hated_ how weak he got during the nights, how scared of the shadows in his room he had become, and it was humiliating to admit to himself that he had grown scared of the dark. Naras were not supposed to be afraid of the dark and never of the shadows.

“Ok”, Sakura just said. “One of the most important factors in your recovery is sleep. It’s now very important that you sleep a lot, every night. I’ll prescribe medication for you, to make it easier to fall asleep.” Then she winked her eye at him. “But sooner or later those Nara genes will kickstart again and you’ll nap all the time.”

Shikadai smiled sheepishly at her.

“I sure hope they do.”

“I came as soon as I heard you are allowed visitors”, Mirai said after opening the door to his room. “Hi, Shikadai.”

“It’s so good to see you”, Shikadai said. “Someone who isn’t a nurse or mum or dad or someone else who is from here.”

“How are you?”

“I’ve been better”, Shikadai said and the young woman he saw as his older sister sat by him. They shared a quick hug. “I’m bored for most of the time. They wouldn’t let me have my videogames here. They say that the games can disturb my ‘peace’.”

“What do you do instead?” Mirai asked.

“I read quite a lot and do sudokus”, Shikadai said and showed her the book he was currently reading. “And every morning I have meetings with the psychiatrist and every noon we have different kinds of group activities with the other ones here. Yesterday we baked honey cookies. Here, take one.”

He reached for a little box he had on his desk and Mirai ate one of the cookies from the box.

“Inojin is coming later today”, Shikadai told her, smiling and slightly blushing.

“Oh, yeah, congratulations again”, Mirai said. “I heard it’s official now.”

“In the family, yeah”, Shikadai said. “We haven’t ‘come out’ or anything yet.”

“You came out last summer to me”, Mirai teased.

“Yeah, and that was exclusively to you”, Shikadai replied. “So feel lucky you were chosen.” Mirai snorted at him but grew then more serious.

“So… what exactly happened?” she asked. “I mean, I know what happened up in Kumo, but what happened to you.”

Shikadai lifted a pamphlet from his bedside table and gave it to Mirai. She read the intro and looked up over the edge of the pamphlet with sad, red eyes.

“Brief Psychotic Disorder?” she repeated with a questioning tone. “That’s sounds… really serious.”

“Yeah, but don’t pity me”, Shikadai said. “Most of the times it takes up to a month for get even out of the psychosis. For me it took only two days, thanks to Ino. I was lucky, because if she wouldn’t’ve been there… well. Let’s say we were very lucky she was there.”

“Is there a risk you will suffer from more of them?” Mirai asked.

“They said that the risk is there, but because this was a completely stress related psychosis, I will be able to live my life just as before”, Shikadai said and there was a lightness in his voice, a relief and even glee.

“But remember to cope with stress”, Mirai said. She lifted her bag and took out a little package. “I brought you some hanami dango.”

“Really? Oh, nice.”

They ate the dangos and chatted about this and that and specifically about the boy Mirai had started seeing.

“And you know what?” Mirai said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “He’s blond and has blue eyes. So technically we share the same taste in boys.”

“Get out of here!” Shikadai laughed. “We are so not talking about this!”

“Oh yes”, Mirai kept teasing and grabbed the wriggling boy in her embrace. “I’m never going to let this go. What are sisters for if not for teasing?”

“You are so troublesome”, Shikadai said, but he wasn’t trying to escape Mirai’s hug. He let himself be held by her. Somehow this wordless gesture spoke more than a thousand words.

“It’s good to have you back”, Mirai mumbled against the crown of his head. “I was quite scared for you when I heard you had gone missing, and when I heard what had happened up there with the explosion and everything that followed. I was scared my baby brother is coming home in a body bag, or never coming home at all. I was afraid you would remain in Kumo forever in some prison.”

Shikadai leaned into her collarbone.

“Don’t ever die before me”, she murmured to him.

“I won’t”, Shikadai told her.

Someone opened the door and startled them both to the degree of Shikadai whipping himself out of the comforting position. Mirai hurled out of the bed towards the door. Inojin and Chocho stood behind it.

“Oh hi, Mirai. Are we disturbing?” Inojin asked. “Hi, sweetie, are you all right?” he added as he received a welcome hug by Shikadai.

“Chocho! You’re back”, Shikadai exclaimed over Inojin’s shoulder at the sight of his other teammate. “When did you arrive?”

“Yesterday”, Chocho said.

“I think I’ll be leaving”, Mirai said. “I come and visit you sometime again.”

Shikadai saw her out of the hospital and by the time he returned to his room Chocho and Inojin had a big box placed on the desk.

“What is this?” Shikadai asked suspiciously when he saw the evil grin of Chocho. “Did the nurses let you take this inside?”

“Yes, they inspected it and deemed it safe”, Chocho said with a wink.

“What is it?” Shikadai asked and Chocho opened the box and set up a board and cards. “Ah, it’s a game.” He sat by the table and his friends arranged the boardgame into the gaming setting.

“You told me in the train to Hot Spring Country to find a ‘Chocho-always-wins-game’ so I did!” Chocho said and proudly showed the package of the boardgame. “There was a little game shop in Kumo where I bought this one.”

“How come you are so sure you’ll win? I am a strategist after all.”

Chocho’s smile grew even wider.

“This is game that plays on trickery and luck”, she said, almost purring as she put four different dice on the board. “And I’m sure I own both of you in both categories.”

Chocho was right. After three playthroughs and three different setups of the game, Chocho still won all of them. Inojin, who seemed to anyways have the worst luck and always picked the wrong cards and placed his bets on wrong faculties in game accepted defeat as soon as he picked the first ‘turn around and start collecting lumber’-card.

Shikadai was harder on himself. He evaluated the resources with great care, placed his bets by judging the biggest probability that his choices would gain value as the game exceeded, but in the end, he lost to Chocho because she happened to score high in the dice throws and because she bluffed (“_I give you three stones for one gem. Come one, those gems suck this late in the game. You’d gain from having more stones” _when it later turned out that that one gem was all she needed to win the game, and Shikadai had never been so disappointed in himself in a game ever).

“I am actually in here at the ward to rest, not to get riled up by this game”, he snarled, with a hidden playfulness and a smile after Chocho won the third time.

“You should be more careful with what you ask for”, Chocho said at the same time as a nurse opened the door.

“The visiting time is up”, she said. “You may visit again tomorrow starting from midday.”

Chocho quickly wrapped up her boardgame and all its pieces and dice.

“It was nice seeing you this happy”, she said, smiling. “See you.”

Inojin tried to linger a little bit longer. The nurse ignored him and came into the room, placing a tiny plastic container with a white pill and a glass of water on the bedside table.

“There’s mochi as night snack in the dining hall”, the nurse told Shikadai.

“I’m fine, thanks”, Shikadai said, but he wasn’t even looking at the nurse. His eyes lingered on Inojin.

“You may now leave”, the nurse said to Inojin. “And Shikadai, come with me to grab some night snack.” Shikadai gave the nurse an unimpressed look.

“I’ll come back tomorrow after training if you like”, Inojin said.

“I’d like that”, Shikadai said.

“Sleep well, sweetie”, Inojin said and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend.

They shared a kiss, a deep kiss as they had grown bolder since their whole mission where their mortality had been awfully present. They couldn’t spend their time hiding love when they wanted to embrace each other. So, they didn’t care that the nurse was still looking at them hiding her reaction at their kiss.

Shikadai returned to his room after fetching a mochi, and after taking his medicine and lying in bed, darkness surrounded him again. Spending time in the hospital was sometimes lonely. But as the shadows grew bigger in the corner of his room, he felt a tiny assurance. He didn’t feel afraid, not in the same way as before. The sun had set in Konoha, but he wasn’t afraid. It felt good knowing that.

For the first time in the week Shikadai had spent at the open ward in the hospital he didn’t wake up more than twice and got somewhat enough sleep.

Shikadai just returned to his room after session with the psychiatrist to find his room filled with friends.

Boruto, Sarada, Mitsuki, Chocho and Inojin.

”Surprise!” they all shouted as he stepped inside.

“Woah!” Shikadai let out after his heart almost escaped his ribcage. He didn’t have time to collect himself before two arms surrounded him and he almost choked on yellow hair.

“Shikadaaiiii!” Boruto yelled as he almost crushed Shikadai in his grip. “So good to see you alive and well!”

“Shut up before the nurses come and kick you out”, Shikadai said and pushed himself away. “Wow, guys. Wow, thanks for coming. I mean, I didn’t expect all of you… wow.”

“We got you this card”, Mitsuki said, slightly abashed. He reached a handmade card to Shikadai.

“Yeah, and Himawari drew the picture”, Boruto filled in, sounding proud.

Shikadai opened the card to see a picture of them all. Him and all of his friends, drawn skilfully by the very precise Himawari and the wish ‘_Get well Shikadai’ _filled the space above the heads of the drawn figures. Everyone had signed the card with their names.

Shikadai’s mouth was but a huge grin.

“Wow”, he just said.

“Lord Seventh told us about what had happened, when you came home”, Sarada said. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. I mean, I’m sorry for all of you”, she added and gestured towards Inojin and Chocho. “But you sure got the shortest end of the stick.”

“Maybe”, Shikadai said. “Well, there’s still the trial after I leave here, so we still don’t know _how_ bad it was to get the short end of the stick.”

He noticed how Mitsuki kept poking Boruto and whispering something along the lines of ‘show it to him’, and when both boys realized they were under Shikadai’s watch Boruto grinned to him.

“We have another card for you”, he said. “And _I’m_ the one who drew this card, just so you know.”

Boruto showed what he had hidden in his hands and it was a card with a huge pink heart drawn on the frontpage and on the backside Boruto had written CONGRATULATIONS SHIKADAI AND INOJIN. Below the text Boruto had drawn two stick figures holding hands, one with wild black hair tied up in a messy ponytail and the other one with long blond hair.

“What is this?” Shikadai asked.

“Oh my god, you did not! You are so embarrassing, Boruto”, Sarada said and facepalmed.

“Eh, Shikadai”, Inojin said, pink in the face. He grabbed Shikadai’s hand. “I – I came out to them. And I told them about us. I didn’t know they’d make a card; it was not my idea.” He peered at the picture Boruto proudly held up. “Why do I look like a princess?”

“Hey!” Boruto said. “I just drew your hair – “

“My hair is not down to my butt!”

“Well, it probably will be because you told me you were going to let it grow long”, Boruto replied.

“You’ve said you’re going to let your hair grow?” Chocho cut in. “So, finally you’ve given that a thought! Here I was thinking it was never going to happen.”

“Well, yeah, kinda”, Inojin said. “But it still won’t make me a _princess._”

“But come on, Shikadai is Suna’s prince anyway so he would probably at least like you to look like a prince?” Boruto tried. “Y’know, ‘cause princes like… other princes?”

“Inojin”, Shikadai murmured as he inspected the card. “You would look nice with long hair.”

“Eeeeuuugh, you’re so sweet I’m getting cavities”, Boruto yelled dramatically.

“Shut up”, Sarada said as she hit an elbow in Boruto’s ribs. “The nurses will kick us out if you keep yelling.”

“But seriously, congratulations. I always guessed Inojin wasn’t in for the girls, but you! That came as a surprise!” Boruto said.

“That’s because you are so dense”, Chocho said. “They’ve been snogging behind our backs since last summer.”

“Who even says ‘snogging’?” Sarada asked as Boruto giggled to her choice of words.

“I do?”

“Chocho, are you aware that only northerners use the word ‘snogging’?” Sarada asked.

“Ugh, no? I’ve always said snogging, no big deal with that”, Chocho said.

“You know what they say in Suna?” Shikadai said, now getting turned on the idea of comparing linguistic differences in different parts of the continent. “They use the phrase ‘tashing on’ – “

“Okay that’s too much weird language for my brain”, Boruto cut him off.

Never had the hours at the hospital passed so fast as when Team 7 and Team 10 crammed together in the tiny room, sharing that special bond called friendship.

As the stay at the hospital was drawing to a close Shikadai had to do a lot of tests. Tests to put his ability to cope with stress on the focus. One of the funnier tests was cooking. Shikadai got a recipe for teriyaki salmon and muffins, and he had two hours to make both under the supervision of the psychiatrists. They would then assess how well he coped with the stress of creating both the main dish and dessert within the time limit.

He made both dishes and felt satisfied with the result.

Shikadai spent a lot of time talking to the psychiatrists, too, and took part of personality tests, and then finally got a green light. He was deemed to successfully have come out of the aftershock of the psychosis. Because his psychosis was due to enormous stress and trauma, and no other mental disorder was behind the breakdown, the doctors prescribed medication for him for only a year to avoid possible future delusions. If he managed fine this upcoming year, he could stop taking the anti-psychosis pills and live his life as if nothing ever had happened.

When he walked out of the hospital, he felt a big weight being lifted off his shoulders. He was going to be healthy again.

“I heard Shikadai is home again”, Choji said as he munched on the barbeque meat. He, Ino and Shikamaru sat in their regular barbeque restaurant.

“Yes”, Shikamaru confirmed. “I’m really thankful that his disorder was deemed as a one-time thing. He’ll be back in business by late April again and then we can hopefully leave all of this behind us.”

“Well, there’s still the trial”, Ino sighed. “Next week is going to be an interesting one. I’m already nervous.”

“The Kages have already made up their minds”, Shikamaru said. “I asked Naruto and for some reason he managed to stay quiet. I thought he would spill it to me, but I guess since this is also affecting the interrelationship between villages, he wouldn’t risk it. And Temari tried to seduce Gaara into telling her, but he also kept quiet.”

“So what do you suspect?” Choji asked.

“I suspect Shikadai will get some kind of ‘in-village-arrest’”, Shikamaru said. “That he is supposed to get in-village missions from both Konoha and Suna for a year or something like that. And he must pay for the destroyed building, so he’ll be bound to this crime, if you want to call it that, for a long time. Rebuilding is not particularly cheap. Especially not when said building had marble floor.” He sighed. “Your kids? Inojin will probably be free of any charges and Chocho will maybe get something minor for not doing anything to stop Shikadai.”

They fell into silence.

“Dessert?” Choji asked and whipped the menus to his friends. “Let’s cheer up with some ice cream.”

Just as Ino and Shikamaru were about to look for which ice cream tastes there were on the menu three men approached them.

“I thought we would find you here.” That voice was undeniably no other’s than Nara Ensui. Shikamaru rolled his eyes before looking up at the three men.

Nara Ensui, Yamanaka Fū and Akimichi Maruten stood by their table, dark and looming.

“What do you want?” Shikamaru asked.

“I noticed that your son is back home again”, Ensui said.

“Keen eyes”, Shikamaru said.

“The trial is next week, on Thursday, isn’t it?” Ensui continued, and before anyone could confirm the answer Fū took a step forward.

“You can make a mental note that next Friday we’ll have a three-clan meeting”, he said, making Ino rise from her seat.

“That won’t happen ”, she said to Fū. “I will not consent to this meeting.”

“Your consent means nothing if we have this”, Fū said and opened a scroll. Ino grabbed the scroll and read its content. The scroll claimed that a three-clan meeting was scheduled, signed by the five eldest members of the Yamanaka clan. Ino creased the edges of the scroll in her fists.

They had _voted_.

Her clan had voted for a meeting behind her back. Two-thirds of the clan members had voted for a meeting, which meant that Ino’s consent and blessing as a clan head wasn’t needed, nor would her refusal have any impact. Such were rules as old at the clan itself. If one clan wanted to have a meeting, the other two would automatically agree. There was no way to avoid the three-clan meeting.

“When on earth have you had time to organize a voting?” Ino asked, voice shaking of rage.

“When you were gone in Kumo”, Fū answered.

Ino stared at him.

“There was a _crisis_ going on in Kumo”, Ino began and pressed the scroll back into his hands, but she was interrupted by Maruten.

“A crisis that derived completely from the dual citizens, or should I be more precise, my own clan’s future heir”, Maruten said, making Choji furious.

“My daughter wanted to stop the terror attack!” he said. “Do you even know what happened up there? Chocho killed the leader of that terrorist gang.”

“Oh, I forgot”, Ensui said. ”It was the heir of _my _clan who actually did manage to blow up half of Kumo city.” He smiled at Shikamaru. “I will not have a criminal and a lunatic leading my clan.”

“Get out”, Shikamaru hissed.

“We have a lot to discuss next Friday”, Ensui said. “Be there with your kid. If he isn’t thrown into some asylum right after the trial.”

Shikamaru rose up and got threateningly close to Ensui.

“Get. Out”, he said between his teeth. Ensui looked down at the floor, at Shikamaru’s shadow that was just a heartbeat from stretching into his own and paralyze him. Instead of taking a step back he smiled to Shikamaru.

“Next Friday”, he said.

“Maruten”, Choji said. “My father would never approve of you talking ill about Chocho. She’s a hero – “

“Hero? She just merely managed to wipe off her own shit before someone else did”, Maruten said. “Send your father my regards, I don’t care.”

“Maruten, please”, Choji tried. “I don’t understand why you all have turned against me.”

“Choji”, Maruten said. “We’ve never been with you. You were never fit to be a shinobi, nor a leader for our clan. You may be the official Head of Clan, but your father has done all the hard work for you all your life, and we have respected you out of respect for Choza. But your child… Ensui is right. It is time for the Ino-Shika-Cho to get a rebirth.”

“Please, leave”, Choji said.

“We’re already leaving”, Maruten said and started walking. Ensui joined him and Fū was the only one lingering.

“If you’re staying here to insult Inojin, I will hit you in the face”, Ino said.

“Tsk”, was the only thing Fū said, but his face was twisted in a grimace and Ino was _this_ close to hitting him when he turned around and left them.

Ino was still shaking when she turned to look Shikamaru and Choji in their eyes.

“We’re in deep shit, aren’t we?” she said. Before Shikamaru or Choji had any time to answer she grabbed her handbag and ran out. “I need to talk to my dad.”

Shikamaru sighed deeply.

“I guess I will have to talk to my dad, too”, he muttered. “You alright, Choji?”

“I… I’m going home”, Choji said. “I have to prepare a spare bed. Yes, that is what I’m going to do.”

Shikamaru didn’t question why on earth he wanted to prepare a spare bed. He put money on the table, prepared a cigarette for himself and after a single nod to his best friend he left.

The atmosphere in Konoha was tense, to say the least when the Kazekage and Raikage arrived for the trial. By now, everyone knew of what trouble dual citizens could cause. The hate and suspicion were not anymore something that happened in the dark North, or something people whispered about in the shadows, it was now an issue right there in the broad light of day.

Whispers grew in the street corners, suspicious gazes lingered on everyone with more than one forehead protector, especially the young Nara, and it made Shikadai frustrated.

He was okay now! He wasn’t unpredictable anymore, why wouldn’t people stop staring at him? But as soon as he felt anger rise in his body, he learned to take control over it quickly again, ignoring the unknown kids staring at him with his usual I-don’t-give-a-fuck-attitude. That was a victory, feeling like the state of being the nervous wreck he had become would not last forever.

He was going to be fine again. Let it take some time, but he will become himself again. He was going to show the world that he could work as a shinobi when his sick leave was over, that the mental illness would never ever make its appearance again.

They knew that the Raikage had already decided the eventual penalties, so their only duty during the trial was to be present and accept whatever that had been decided.

The trial was held behind closed doors, a bench trial, in the Hokage’s office. That was a relief. No journalists, no blabbermouths to regular customers in the Yamanaka flower shop who just wanted to listen to what on earth their florist’s little sunshine boy had been through, no old classmates from the Academy that weren’t even their friends, and no angry elders from the Nara clan. Just Team 10, the Hokage, the Raikage and the Kazekage and their parents.

Inojin was freed of all charges. He was judged to not have been able to do anything more than he already had done. He received a new forehead protector after his old one was never found.

Chocho’s penalty for allowing Shikadai to sneak in the bombs into the conference centre and for not telling anyone was doing community service for Kumo. During the summer she was to live in Kumo for four weeks and do work for free; she was to help another jonin educate their Academy students during D-rank missions.

Chocho wasn’t downhearted at all by this “punishment”. Four weeks of working for free seemed like a perfect deal in her ears and acting as a helping teacher for Academy kids sounded even more fun.

“Cinnamon buns every day”, she whispered to Shikadai while the Raikage was still talking.

And just true to Shikamaru’s prediction, Shikadai’s penalty for planting bombs and activating them, resulting in a great explosion and destruction, was him having his freedom limited. His freedom to roam outside Konoha or Suna was taken away. He would not be allowed to travel at all outside the town of Konoha, nor outside Suna, except for the train rides between them two.

No more missions in the wilderness. No more missions at all in another villages and towns or communities for a whole year. 365 days. He wasn’t even allowed to go to the Great Lake a day’s trip outside of Konoha.

Apparently, this was the Raikage’s concept of being pardoned. The Raikage had wanted to have him in jail, but because he helped kill Nora, he only had his freedom limited while still being free.

There was nothing else to do but to accept. He should be lucky they didn’t throw him in jail or seal his powers away. His freedom was just cut short for a while. It should not be a big deal. Caring was troublesome anyway.

But somewhere, deep inside, he cared greatly.

“On a scale from one to ten where ten is execution and one is being freed of all charges, I think this is not even a four”, Temari said later at the dinner table. “Cheer up, sweetie, you can still get in-village missions and you don’t even have to rot here in Konoha. Just say the word and I’ll buy you a ticket to Suna, so you can grow bored of the sand when you’ve grown bored of the leaves.”

“This is just not how I expected to spend my year”, Shikadai sighed, poking in his food.

“What did you expect?”

“I expected to… I don’t know, _do_ stuff”, Shikadai muttered. “Like being able to do some adventures occasionally. Get interesting missions elsewhere. It doesn’t matter that I’m allowed to walk freely on my own in the village when I’m still caged. This is so troublesome.”

“But you could be in jail”, Temari said. “Then it would be more troublesome than this, right? This penalty is a jackpot, if you ask me.”

Shikamaru, who had already eaten his food, moved over to the window and peered out. He smiled at the sight of something and turned to Temari.

“Temari”, he said. “Let’s go out for a while.”

“Where are you going?” Shikadai asked. “Let me finish complaining, hey!”

“I have listened to your father’s complaining for far too many years”, Temari said and put on her shoes. She looked out of the window and smiled.

“What’s going on?” Shikadai asked, about to rise from the table.

“We’ll let you sort that out yourself”, Temari said and she and Shikamaru went out through the door at the same time as Inojin came inside.

“Hey”, Shikadai said. “It was just you. My parents were acting like you were the biggest deal ever.”

Because Shikadai had grown taller, Inojin had to quickly stand on his tiptoes to press a light kiss on Shikadai’s lips.

“Actually, I’m not alone”, Inojin said. “Come inside, Omoi.”

To Shikadai’s big surprise, Omoi walked in.

“Hi?”

“Hello”, Omoi said. “I got a very formal invitation from Chocho to come here. I was in the village to visit anyway now after the trial, and she told me I had a mission of great importance. She told me you wanted to talk. About… well, about you.”

Shikadai brought up a hand to scratch his neck.

“Oh, wow.”

He had almost forgotten about that. He had been so occupied staying alive and staying sane that he forgot that they wanted to talk to Omoi about love between… two boys.

It felt awkward, and it really was, but Inojin’s tiny wriggling of his shoulders made Shikadai almost giggle and that was when the tension eased.

“Yeah”, Shikadai answered. “Like… Inojin and I… we’re boyfriends. Well, I guess everyone knows it by now. Chocho told us that you… might know something about that kind of stuff.”

Omoi chuckled lightly and showed a package he had with him.

“I brought cake.”

The theme colour of that evening in the Nara household’s living room was rainbow.

“I think that’ll cheer him up”, Temari said as she and Shikamaru wandered inside the Nara forest. Sometimes a deer or two came to greet them but scattered quickly again.

“Hm”, Shikamaru answered.

“How are you going to tell him?”

“How do I drop the bomb that his entire clan seem to be against him?” Shikamaru sighed. “This past month have been such hell for him, and now, if he’s finally _happy_, I don’t want to be the one telling him that Ensui and Fū and Maruten have organized a three-clan meeting tomorrow with the intention to disinherit him and Inojin and Chocho. It will break him.”

“I won’t let them do that”, Temari snorted. “We won’t let them do that.”

“He will be so mad at me for not telling him earlier”, Shikamaru said.

“He will be mad about many things”, Temari said. “But I swear, the decision to become clan head will rest entirely on him and not on anyone else.”

“Do you think so?”

“Seventeen generations”, Temari said. “There better be the fucking best sale speech ever for Ensui to break that tradition. Where are you going?”

“To our Nara shrine”, Shikamaru said. “I’ll see if there are any good sayings of old that can serve as an argument. Because I need to have a better sale speech.”

Temari remained outside while Shikamaru walked into the shrine, looking for guidance and wishing for the best for tomorrow, when the three-clan meeting was going to take place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We still collectively hate Ensui, right?


	16. The three-clan meeting

“Chocho, who is that?” Inojin exclaimed when he spotted Chocho in the old hall that was used as a meeting room for the clans.

Just a few steps in front of Chocho, a little orange dog was happily prancing around. The dog had its own leash in its mouth, it was a puppy after all, and the other end of the leash was being firmly gripped by Chocho’s hand.

“It’s my new dog!” she happily told them.

“You got a dog?” Shikadai asked as he let the dog lick his hand.

“Yes! This is one of the puppies I saved from the explosion”, Chocho said.

“You’ve never told me you saved puppies”, Shikadai said, almost accusingly. He didn’t know if the accusation was pointed at Chocho for omitting this information or at himself, because five weeks later, he still felt so much guilt about the explosion.

“Yes, I told you?” Chocho said, but she sounded unsure. Shikadai gave Chocho an unimpressed look.

“You sure it wasn’t to Inojin you talked about that?” he said, lowering his voice. “Because I was kind of somewhere else.”

“Hm”, Chocho said, taking the dog in her lap. “But Inojin, do you remember?”

“As if I could forget”, Inojin said and patted the dog on its head. “What’s the name?”

“Chowi!” Chocho said and sounded as if she could burst out of pride.

“Chowi?” Inojin repeated. “It’s your dog, not your child.”

“Am I not allowed to give my dog a Cho-beginning name, huh?” Chocho asked. “Stupid Inojin.” That was meant for the dog.

“When did Chowi come here?” Shikadai asked.

“Yesterday”, Chocho explained. “Omoi brought her with him. He was at ours before he visited you.”

“By the way, thanks for talking Omoi into visiting us, we had fun”, Inojin said.

“Good that the mission to Kumo brought at least _someone _happiness”, Shikadai muttered under his breath, and he didn’t mean the other ones to hear him, but they did.

“Yeah, an eternal home for this bestest little giiirl”, Chocho said, ignoring Shikadai’s sarcasm, and almost crushed the puppy in her hug.

“Chocho!” Karui’s voice echoed from the door opening to the hall. “I told you to leave your dog outside.”

Chocho turned to squabbling with her mother whether dogs can attend this three-clan meeting or not, at the same time as member of each respective clan walked through the doors.

It was ridiculously easy to spot to which clan whoever belonged to. Black hair tied up in different fashion was undoubtedly the Nara, and not a single soul (except Temari) outside the Yamanaka clan had different shades of blonde ponytails, everything from almost white to a dark sand blonde. The Akimichis, true to their reputation, wore messy hair around their plump faces. Most of them had clan markings of different kinds in their faces.

“This is the first three-clan meeting that I’ve been invited to”, Shikadai whispered to Inojin. “Do you know why we have this meeting?”

“No”, Inojin replied. “They probably want to discuss important future blah blah boring stuff, and we’re here to learn. We’re going to be clan heads one day, so I guess that’s why.”

“Inojin, love”, Ino said to him. “Come over here to our benches. During three-clan meetings everyone is sitting clan wise. Or are you a Nara?”

Inojin slid off the bench from Shikadai’s side and sided with his parents on the far left, where all Yamanakas had gathered.

When everyone was present, even Chocho, who reluctantly tied her dog Chowi outside the building, Choza rose up and went over to the podium in the middle. He was dressed all in black, with the Akimichi clan symbol in white over his chest, and Shikadai thought it looked oddly similar to a mourning suite.

“We have gathered here today based on the results of the voting the Nara clan, the Yamanaka clan and the Akimichi clan arranged the week the main families were gone up in Lightning Country”, Choza began. “Because over two-thirds of all the voters voted for a meeting, a meeting was scheduled without needing the blessing of the Head of Clans, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji.”

Shikadai looked up to his dad, trying to get eye contact with him. What was going on here? Shikamaru didn’t look back at him.

“The reason for this meeting is to discuss among all the clan members whether Yamanaka Inojin, Nara Shikadai of the Sand and Akimichi Chocho are suitable for bearing the title Head of Clan when they come of age to inherit that status”, Choza said, avoiding the gazes of his son’s family. “We have a proposal from clan members that want to remain anonymous, that these three shall be disinherited and the main families of each clan shall be switched.”

Temari rose from his seat.

“Remain anonymous?” she said mockingly. “Oh, for fucks’ sake, Ensui, come out and tell everyone that you’re a discriminating asshole who hates Suna, okay, and that is the sole reason you want to disinherit Shikadai.”

“The tone of this discussion is to remain factual and objective”, Choza said.

Someone started speaking but the words remained hollow and soundless for the youngest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. They had had no idea. No idea their clan members were plotting to disinherit them.

The mat was just about to be pulled from under their feet. Chocho covered her face with her hands. Inojin pressed the pen he had in his hand so hard against the table the sharpened end of it snapped. Shikadai started counting his own breaths to calm himself down.

“Very well”, Ensui said, and came up to the podium. “Allow me to share my thoughts. I love my clan with my whole heart. I love the tradition we have together with my fellow clans, the Yamanakas and the Akimichis. It is truly an honour to be in such tight symbiose with you all. The main families of our clans have been able to keep up our sacred traditions for seventeen generations.

Sadly, I am afraid that our seventeenth generation have failed us in so many ways already. I worry for the future of our clans, and I’d feel so much safer if someone, who truly cared about our clan, was in the position of inheriting the Head of Clan-title.”

Hum of voices broke out and it was impossible to determine whether they agreed with Ensui or not.

“I’ll start with the most obvious”, Ensui continued, tasting the power he had as he stood by the podium. “My own clan, the Nara clan, is to be, in the future, led by Nara Shikadai. _Of. The. Sand. _This is a boy who has dedicated himself just as much to another country as to us, if not even more. He will spend countless of weeks in the desert for the rest of his life. And I can’t be the only one who thinks, that maybe the desert would be a much better place for a boy like him. Suna collects psychos after all.”

Shikadai slammed his hands down.

“I am _not _a psycho!” he yelled.

“Blowing up buildings and attempting to kill over two hundred innocent people during peacetime is not a good experience to have on one’s resume, is it?” Ensui said. “I know what happened to you, everyone knows. You belong in an asylum.”

“No, I don’t.” Shikadai wanted to sound spiteful but his voice lost all power at the accusation. The doctors _had_ said that he was okay. They had said that this is not likely to happen again if he takes his medicine. He is supposed to be okay.

“What would the rest of our village say if they know that a lunatic is leading our clan?” Ensui asked the rest of the attendees this question. He didn’t look at Shikadai, or his parents.

Shikamaru opened his mouth to object, but Ensui was quicker.

“That is why Suna would be a much better alternative for him”, Ensui said and now he was looking straight at Temari. “That whole village is already being led by line of lunatics.”

“That’s enough!” Temari yelled and thrusted herself at Ensui, only to be locked in place by a shadow. “Let me go, Shikamaru.”

“No jutsus allowed during a three-clan meeting”, someone said and Shikamaru released Temari.

“Temari, no”, Shikamaru said, slowly and with a shaking voice.

Ensui smiled to Temari.

“Calm down”, he said, but it only agitated Temari further.

“I could kill you”, she hissed.

“Noted”, Ensui said.

“Temari, please, sit down”, Shikamaru said. “I’ll handle this.”

Temari plumped down on the seat beside Shikadai, who had curled his arms around his head, staring down. She whispered in his ear:

“Don’t listen to him. He’s an asshole, a true dickhead. I still love you, no matter what anyone say about you.”

During this time Shikamaru had pressed Ensui away from the podium and took all the spotlight. He had a book in his hands.

“Dear clan members of all three clans present here today, I want to share with you a snippet of our clans’ history, though it is centred around the Nara clan”, Shikamaru began.

_When Shikamaru had stepped into the secret Nara shrine, he didn’t really know what he was even looking for. An argument, a sign, a note from a forefather, a ghost, anything. The candles had since long burned down; neither he nor Temari used to go to this shrine. Few of the other clan members did visit this shrine, though it was at their service, too. Over the times of generations, it was commonly believed that the shrine belonged to the main family only._

_Yoshino used to visit the shrine often. She was the only one in the family who had a faith and she had spent a lot of time in the shrine, making wishes for the upcoming seasons and praying that her husband and son would come alive home from missions and wars. When Choji had been severely wounded after the failed Retrieve Sasuke-mission, Yoshino had prayed for him non-stop in the shrine while Shikamaru and Shikaku were at the hospital._

_Shikamaru had never been religious, but somehow, he felt that Yoshino had done something to help Tsunade heal Choji._

_He waddled around in the shrine. It wasn’t even a big shrine, only big enough for two tatami-mats. One wall had a little shelf with old books, while the other wall had the shelf for the candles._

_Shikamaru didn’t know why, but his gaze gravitated towards one book in particular. _Nara Clan History. _He opened the book, and the person who had read it before him had left a note in between the pages, guiding Shikamaru to a specific spread._

_His heart almost stopped beating when he read the note in Yoshino’s handwriting._

“For my desert grandson. If you ever feel like you’re doubting your place in our clan, read this. Love – grandma.”

_Shikamaru had never felt so close to his departed mother before. His heart started pounding hard in his chest and his throat felt so tight and suddenly, his eyes were burning, and he was crying. Crying over his mother, who never got to be at her grandson’s side when he needed it the most. Crying over not having any parents anymore. Crying because even though she was dead and gone, she still managed to help her family._

_That book was all he needed._

“I found this in the Nara shrine”, Shikamaru told the audience at the three-clan meeting. “My deceased mother read a passage about the founding of our clan and passed on this note to my son.” He read the note Yoshino had left to Shikadai, looking straight at him. A shy smile escaped Shikadai’s lips. “Let me read to you what the book says.”

Shikamaru took a deep breath and opened the book at the spread Yoshino had left for them.

“When the clan heads of the Yamanaka clan, the Nara clan and the Akimichi clan fought for the first time together, the Head of Clans, Ino the First, Shika the First and Cho the First noticed how well their jutsus completed each other. After the battle was won, they entered a symbiosis and a tight partnership, with the intention of keeping the tradition of fighting together alive through their children.

Shika the First lived in the Nara forest, with the small deer. He didn’t use the deer for anything and let them live their lives, and he was able to, together with his wife, live his life. However, a sickness came to the Nara forest and killed all the deer. Every single one fell prey for the very infectious disease, and Shika the First and his pregnant wife wound themselves living all alone in the forest.

Shortly after the deer, another disease entered Shika the First’s wife, and she died together with the baby after just one week’s battle. Shika the First was heartbroken and announced shortly after to Ino the First and Cho the First that he would leave Fire Country to travel around.

He missed his wife and found himself missing the deer too. After many years he found himself travelling to the South, to the vast desert of Wind Country. Shika the First lived among the Sunese and soon became one of them. He travelled to South East of Wind Country, to the dry forests and found a tribe hording big fallow deer. The tribe welcomed Shika the First as one of them and they let all their secrets pass on to him. He learned how to use the antlers as medicine according to the tribe’s specific formulae, the same medicine used today by the Naras.

After a few years of spending time with the deer tribe in the very south east of Wind Country, Shika the First started missing home. He brought with him five of the fallow deer to the Nara forest, and started breeding them. His second wife was a woman from the deer tribe of Wind Country, and they got four children together.

Only the youngest one, Shikawari, inherited a Yin Release strong enough to create Shadow bindings, while the three older children inherited Wind Style. Shikawari entered the trio Ino-Shika-Cho, the second generation of the formation, and she perfected the deer breeding, mixing the fallow deer of the desert with smaller Eld’s deer of northern Fire Country, ultimately creating the breed Shika-deer known to us today as the Nara clan’s honourable soul animal. After this, all firstborn children born as a straight descendant to Shikawari were named with the prefix “Shika” in her honour, the mixed child of forest and desert.”

Shikamaru closed the book. It was completely silent in the room.

_Thank you, mum._

“Shikadai is a child of Suna and Konoha”, Shikamaru said. “But so was the second leader of the Nara Clan, the very person who essentially created our Nara Clan. Every Nara present here today is a descendant of Shikawari, the second Head of Clan, who was half Sunese. The argument that Shikadai isn’t suitable to be an heir because of his heritage is therefore invalid.”

Shikamaru nodded to Ensui and left the podium. Choji stood up and walked up to the podium. He had a paper with bullet points written down, and he was so nervous his hands were shaking.

“Hello”, he started nervously. “I’m standing here on behalf of my daughter. Chocho is a child that, even though she has affinity for Lightning Style, a weapon of choice she likes to use, know most of our Hidden Jutsus. She is even able to use Butterfly mode.” He took a deep breath, fiddling with his paper. “I will not stand behind the disinheriting of Chocho. She _is_ an Akimichi, and who cares if she will spend time in Kumo over the upcoming years? I mean, we already have telephones and even video connection over nations, and I’m sure we can in the future benefit this technology for our future clan heads Shikadai and Chocho when they are in their other countries.

A clan leader doesn’t have to remain stuck in our own domains anymore and if a state of crisis would arrive, she is only a train ride away from Konoha, when the train tracks reach Kumo. The world is getting smaller. I, Akimichi Choji, current Head of the Akimichi clan, say that Chocho should remain as Head of Clan for the Akimichi clan. Thank you for listening to me.”

He walked away from the podium, still shaking of nervousness, and received a comforting shoulder rub by Karui as he sat by her.

_Great job, Choji¸ _Ino thought. She was so proud of him for standing up for his daughter in the moment of distress, even though he was frightened of speaking in front of a lot of people. Just as she made herself ready to walk up to the podium to start her speech Fū rose up before her and quickly walked over to the podium.

“I’ll say a few words before Ino takes over”, he said. “I just want to inform everyone here in the room than Inojin is a futile heir. He won’t get himself a wife and it would be up to the clan to find a girl and arrange a marriage for that boy, which to be honest is a hassle, because who would even want to marry a guy with a taste like him?” There was a short pause where Fū looked at Ino and Inojin. “He fancies boys! The rumours have turned out to be true. He is a freak of nature.”

Inojin stared at him, throat dry and a cold, cold lump in his chest.

“Fū”, Ino said, trying to sound calm and collected. “He is no freak.”

“It’s unnatural”, Fū replied.

“You’re right”, Inojin said and everyone’s attention drew to him. “I do fancy boys. Done that all my life. I sometimes even used to despise myself for it.” He rose from his seat moving up to Fū, like he was going to challenge him. “And you know what? I don’t care anymore. All my life I’ve felt like a failure. I don’t know if it’s the born-in-December-syndrome or what it is, but all my life I’ve been envious of my friends.”

His most well-hidden secret of them all. The reason he sometimes insulted his friends under the cover of “oh, I thought you wanted to hear the truth?” and “I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking” and other stupid guises was because of envy. It made himself feel good to put others down, and no matter how often Shikadai called him out for it, he had a hard time stopping behaving like an ass. It took him most of his pre-teen years to figure out why he had the need to insult his friends, and when he finally found the word “envy”, he became incredibly sad at his own pitifulness.

“I’ve questioned myself so many times, am I even worthy being called a Yamanaka because I suck at the Mind Transfer. It is fucking hard to learn Mind Transfer! Sorry, mum, but the lessons were so hard, and I hated my own clan jutsu for the longest time, because I sucked at it. I’ve doubted my place in the clan for a long time, Mr. Fū. Not only because my own clan jutsu was a pain in the ass to learn and backfired almost every time I used it, but also because I like boys the way I should like girls. I know it’s not what is expected of me.”

Inojin drew a deep breath.

“But during January and February, months that were true hell for me, I finally learned something about myself. I learned two things. One. I am no failure. I managed to do the Mind Destruction Jutsu on my first try, perfectly, flawlessly, even, and I made a young woman cut out her own tongue. I disabled someone for life. And in that second, I felt the strongest connection to my Yamanaka heritage I’ve felt I my whole life. I thought to myself ‘Wow. This is the power of the Yamanaka’. I know my grandfather Inoichi would’ve been proud of me.”

He glanced over to his grandmother, Ino’s mum, who sat by the very edge of the room. She had tears of pride in her eyes and nodded encouragingly to her only grandson.

“I even managed to mix both the jutsu of my father and the Yamanaka jutsu”, Inojin continued. “I _am _the future Yamanaka clan head and you can’t take that away from me, not when I finally have realized that I am worthy of bearing that title. And who cares if Shikadai and I love each other, I – “

_Oh. Shit_. He was not supposed to expose Shikadai. Not now. Not in the presence of these people. Yes, their relationship was official. But this was different from coming out to friends. These were elder clan members who didn’t understand and despised anything outside the norm.

Nara Enchu, the oldest of the elder members, Ensui’s father, rose up.

“Is Shikadai also a…?” he asked.

“How funny isn’t it that seventeen generations are now ruined by two boys who can’t keep their hands off each other”, Ensui snorted.

“Hey!” Shikadai stood up, now agitated beyond the point of no return. “Why won’t you shut up? I can like whoever the _fuck_ I want!”

Ensui just looked at him with a face of disgust.

“You should learn to talk to your elders with respect”, he said and then looked up at the rest of the Naras. “See, this is what I mean. He’s foul-mouthed and disrespectful, just like his desert mother.”

“I have a proposal”, Enchu said. “Akimichi Chocho may remain as the heir of Head of Clan for the Akimichi clan, but Nara Shikadai of the Sand and Yamanaka Inojin will be disinherited for their rather unnatural preferences.”

“You can’t do that!” Inojin shouted. “I don’t want to be disinherited!”

Chocho stood up.

“If you disinherit Shikadai and Inojin, I will resign my position as heir”, she said. “You either choose all of us, or no one!”

“Okay, then”, Enchu said. “Let’s vote whether the clans want to disinherit the Nara and Yamanaka heirs.”

Vote. Vote for the future of Inojin and Shikadai, vote for their places in their clans, _vote_ for whether their love is a legitimate one.

Now Shikamaru stood up.

“Neither my father nor Inoichi would ever allow this”, he said with a threatening voice. Enchu looked curiously at him.

“How can you be so sure, Shikamaru?” Enchu asked with genuine honesty.

“This is ridiculous”, Shikamaru began.

“This kind of voting has been done before in our clan”, Enchu said, as a matter-of-factly. “Your grandmother, Shikari, Shikaku’s mother, was not the firstborn child of her parents, yet she was made the heir because her older brother had the same wicked desire. I was young when we had that meeting, but I still remember. He lost the voting.”

Shikamaru stared at the eldest member of his clan. Shikamaru had never met his granduncle, his grandmother’s brother, because he had died young by his own hand. He was the black sheep of the clan and no one ever spoke of him. Shikamaru had barely known this man had ever existed in the first place.

Now Shikamaru understood. His granduncle had been shunned by his own clan because of who he loved, humiliated by a public voting whether he can remain the heir or not, and he had lost the voting. And he had decided to end his life as a result, because he felt like no one would ever love him for who he was again.

Shikamaru felt disgusted by the character of this voting, disgusted by what his own great-grandparents had done to their child. He can’t let this happen to his own child. Shikadai had been so happy yesterday after Omoi left, nattering on about what they had talked about and telling them about an underground movement called Pride and how this was new and exciting. Shikamaru _can’t _let his clan members vote down Shikadai.

Choza and his wife had already made the voting sheets and they began reluctantly dealing them out to each member of all the clans. The rules were simple. Write _yes_ if you want Shikadai and Inojin to remain heirs and write _no_ if you want to see them disinherited. If two-thirds or more voted _no_, their wishes could go into execution.

“Mum, they can’t really do it?” Inojin said, as he got a voting sheet. How was he supposed to _vote_ about himself? This felt scary, weird and humiliating. “I don’t want them to do it.”

It was Sai who answered.

“We never wanted this to happen, but because they voted for this meeting behind our backs, we could not prevent it from happening”, he quietly said, while rubbing Ino’s shoulder. She sobbed soundlessly into her hands, body stiff from trying to avoid shaking. Ino was so angry and hurt. The things they had said about Shikadai and Inojin, it hurt her deep to her core, and it didn’t matter that she was the clan head, if two-thirds voted for a disinheriting, it _had_ to be executed. Such were the rules.

Inojin stared at his voting sheet, stressing about which way the options were supposed to go. Was it _no_ for no to the disinheriting or no for him to remain as an heir? What if he accidentally wrote the wrong answer. What if someone here who was on his side wrote the wrong answer? This was so absurd.

He looked up at Shikadai and they stared at each other, with a thousand words at the tip of their tongues and soundless screams in their throats, when someone opened the doors and walked in.

“Sorry for being late”, the person who just arrived said.

“You were not invited”, Ensui said dryly to the intruder. “You’re no Nara by blood, your vote is illegitimate.”

“Mirai?” Shikadai exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

Mirai smiled at him before looking at Ensui and Enchu.

“I am not here as Shikamaru’s daughter”, she said and turned to all the members. “I am here as the official representant of the Sarutobi clan.”

Now she had everyone’s attention.

“It has never been customary for the Sarutobi clan to have a representant at the three-clan meetings”, Enchu said.

“I know”, Mirai said. “But the sensitive nature of this meeting called for our attention. I barely have to explain to you about the deep and tight collaboration there have been for generations and generations between the Sarutobi clan and the Ino-Shika-Cho-trios. Generations of student-teacher-relationships deep as love. Studded earrings as a sign of our trust and collaboration. The Sarutobi clan is also a great financial support for the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, and has been so for a long time.

However, it came to our attention that some anonymous members of each clan wish for a disinheriting of the youngest generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho-trio. We, as the great support and tight partner of all of your clans, have decided that we will not stand behind the disinheriting of any of the heirs, and we condemn the discrimination that has been shown towards the heirs. We will draw back all our funding placed in your clans, and will cut off all collaborations, if the clans switch main families.”

Mirai held up an old scroll.

“I found this in my grandfather’s, the Third Hokage’s, old storage room”, she said. “This is a contract between Sarutobi Fumihiro and Yamanaka Inomaro, Nara Shikazuki and Akimichi Chorimon, the seventh generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho-trio. It states, that the bond between our four clans will remain as long as the firstborn descendants of the second generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho-trio remains as the main family and the Head of Clans.”

Enchu walked up and took the scroll, reading it carefully. While he was occupied, Mirai took another scroll in her hands.

“On behalf of the whole Sarutobi clan, I declare the immediate end of our financial support and collaboration with the Yamanakas, the Naras and the Akimichis if you continue discriminating the youngest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho”, she said and showed them the other scroll. The declaration she just had said out loud was written down and the declaration was signed by every single living Sarutobi clan member, and their feudal lord and even their great summons, the Monkey King Enma and his son Enra. “The Sarutobi clan will forever stand behind the heirs, no matter their heritage, chakra natures or sexuality. So, what will it be? The end of a many lifetimes long deep bond, or you will stop behaving like squabbling children and accept the heirs just as they are, with all their affinities, quirks and unique features?”

There was a deafening silence. Mirai smirked. Shikamaru’s face was but a big smile and Shikadai looked like he was ready to throw himself into Mirai’s hug immediately.

“Do you even need your ridiculous voting, or shall we figure out the answer now?” Mirai continued. No one made a single sound. Then Fukui, Ensui’s son and the preferred new successor, stood up.

“I suggest we stop this voting”, he said after he cleared his throat. He turned around and looked at his father. “When I heard that a few of our clan wanted me to become the new successor, I felt honoured. Even ready to take on the responsibility. But now… Forgive me, father, but I can’t take on being next in line for Head of Clan, when I see what great heir Shikamaru already has.”

“Great heir? He is anything but great”, Ensui said. “He is unstable, sick and – and _homosexual._”

“Father”, Fukui said. “You are insulting Shikamaru’s son.”

“You are supposed to be the next heir!” Ensui snarled. “We vote.”

“No”, Fukui responded. “I will not take that birth right from Shikadai. Our dear, departed Lady Yoshino left already a message for him – his affinity for Wind nor his eventual claim in the Kazekage family should be a problem. She was a wise lady, and we should honour her wishes. And for Shikadai’s … romantic preferences… well, I don’t know how we fix that – “

“His ‘romantic preferences’ don’t have to be fixed”, Mirai said. “I swear on my honour that if needed be, one of my future children will become Shikadai’s heir. I will dedicate one of my future children to the Nara clan.”

There was a deafening silence and both Shikadai and Shikamaru stared at Mirai, who defiantly let her gaze rest at Enchu and Ensui.

“Father, I did vote for this meeting because I wanted to look good in your eyes, but I am truly ashamed of the light you put our family in”, Fukui finally said.

He turned to everyone.

“I will not become the Head of Clan after Shikamaru”, he said. “And I suggest Shikadai and Inojin will remain as heirs.”

When no one made a single sound, not even Ensui or Enchu, and not even Fū or Maruten, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji made their way to the podium, sharing eye contact with each and every one of the members present in the hall.

“The sixteenth generation of Ino-Shika-Cho – “ Ino began.

“ – declare Yamanaka Inojin, Nara Shikadai of the Sand and Akimichi Chocho the future Head of Clans – “ Shikamaru continued.

“ – as long as they still want it”, Choji finished. “Such is – “

“ – the Will of Fire”, all of them said.

And none of the children lost their places among their clans that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I've got so much Ino-Shika-Cho-feels!  
You know I'm a sucker for Mirai being a good big sis and parents loving their children unconditionally?
> 
> I'll upload the final chapter later this week. Man, what a journey it's been!


	17. The power in stories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, guys, the final chapter!
> 
> Enjoy almost 9k words of a happy ending <3

“I can’t believe you made it”, Shikamaru said while hugging Mirai. “I’m so, so proud of you.”

All of the other clan members along with the elder members had left the three-clan meeting, with various reactions to the results. Ensui had stormed out, Fukui had very embarrassingly excused himself, Fu had left without a word and the rest had waddled out with lame goodbyes and excuses. Choza asked forgiveness twelve times for monitoring the meeting against his will before heading out.

Only the main families remained in the meeting hall, celebrating their children’s success. Inojin, Shikadai and Chocho hadn’t been disinherited. They hadn’t been shunned.

“You didn’t give me much time, that’s why I came so late”, Mirai said. “Konohamaru and I ran around the whole town to find everyone and we made it just in time.”

“Miiiiraaaiii” Shikadai yelled as he threw himself at her when Shikamaru finally let her go. “You are a _hero! _Did you know about this? Had you planned this?”

“Shikamaru asked me a favour”, Mirai said as she held a tight grip around her little brother. “I just couldn’t watch from the side how your clan talks shit about you and Inojin and Chocho.”

“But what was that bit about your children?” Shikadai asked.

“Well, _that_ wasn’t planned”, Mirai chuckled. “But it felt right, and I stand by my words. Sometime in the future, you probably want a King to protect, right?”

Ino, Sai and Inojin came up to give her their sincerest thanks to Mirai, who shrugged it off.

“It was my duty”, Mirai said. “This was the least I could do.”

When they stepped out of the hall the sun was shining bright. The little snow that Konoha had had that year was already melted away and the second week of March was ending. They were leaving winter and welcoming spring.

And then, later that night, after Shikamaru and Temari had faced the well-deserved temper tantrum of Shikadai over how unfair it was that that they had kept this meeting a secret from Shikadai and after the apologies, a game shogi and too big an ice cream serving to content Shikadai later, Shikamaru went out for a walk.

He walked straight to the Nara shrine, lifted out old family history documents and opened the correct page.

_Nara Shikaro_

_Born 3.11_

_Disinherited and disowned at age 16 _

_Died by suicide at age 17_

Shikamaru let out a long, sad sigh. He wouldn’t know what to do if Shikadai would have been disinherited, let alone if he would commit –

“I promise you didn’t die in vain”, Shikamaru said, and he didn’t even know why he was talking out loud. Ghosts didn’t exist. “My son is just like you. He had better luck. He was not disinherited. I guess that’s a win. That it’s no curse to… love someone of the same gender. Or I hope that’s how he feels.”

Shikamaru felt almost embarrassed by talking to the void, but he continued.

“Shikadai told me there are underground movements. Movements where men and women can love whoever they want to love and be open about it. I don’t know if that existed when you were alive, but it exists now. Maybe the society is becoming more accepting now? I know for sure that I am accepting now. I mean, how could I not? I could never ever hate Shikadai, no matter what, and I’m so sorry that your parents and family didn’t love you enough.”

He lit a candle.

“Rest in peace, granduncle Shikaro.”

“I am so nervous”, Inojin mumbled repeatedly as he placed the brush inside his sleeve, ready to just pull it out in battle-ready position. “What if I fail again? I will seriously die if I lose again.”

“Hey, sweetie, it’s going to go perfect this time”, Shikadai said. “This time you’ll kick the opponent in the nuts, and you’ll win.”

“But what if I win, but they still won’t promote me to chunin?” Inojin asked.

“Then they’re asses for not recognizing your talent”, Shikadai said, shrugging his shoulders. Inojin smiled thinly at him and settled to look down at the arena, where two participants made themselves ready to fight.

“Was it fun working for the exams?” Inojin asked.

Because Shikadai was only allowed in-village missions for the entire year, with his freedom outside the village walls taken away as a punishment, he had been headhunted for the chunin exams. It was the perfect employment for a smart chunin who wasn’t allowed outside the gates of Konoha.

(And no, Shikadai didn’t even dare to try to test his limits. The Raikage had been firm with the rules; if he was caught outside the village he would be jailed, and he wanted to avoid that at all costs.)

After weeks and weeks of planning, scheduling and revisioning the first chunin exams of the year was about to take place in Konoha. Shikadai had been in charge for monitoring the written tests, and because he was the youngest of all employees, he was the one to supervise the boys in the need of the bathroom. Shikadai had not enjoyed a single second of toilet duty and was of that attitude that he wasn’t being paid enough for listening to exam participants peeing.

He also monitored the Forest of Death challenge through TV-screens. No, Inojin had not been allowed to know that certain animals in the forests were indeed cameras and keeping that a secret was one of the harder things Shikadai had to do that early summer. One of the other chunin working with similar tasks found out about Inojin and his relationship and had threatened to seal Shikadai’s tongue if he tattled to Inojin’s team about the robotic animals. He didn’t have to worry, Inojin’s team were the fourth team to get through the Forest Exam and later Inojin won his pre-match. 

So, Inojin qualified to the final rounds for the third time, trained like a madman for the whole month he had at disposal to prepare himself for the final match.

“Peeing duty was the worst drag I’ve ever had”, Shikadai said jokingly. Inojin chuckled but grew soon enough serious.

“I think I will burst into flames”, Inojin said, looking down at the ongoing fight. “Mine is up next.”

To Inojin’s dismay was the fight finished after just two mere minutes. He supposed he was lucky to not be matched up against that fierce kunoichi who won with such ease, but _gods_ he was tense when raising from his bench to walk into the stadium.

“Hey, Inojin!” Chocho turned up behind them. “Good luck.” She raised her hand and high fived Inojin. Her dog Chowi raised on its hindlegs and scratched against Inojin’s thighs. “Kick your opponent’s ass.”

“You bet I will”, Inojin said, with a rather evil grin on his lips. He gave Chowi a quick rub behind her ear.

“Sweetheart”, Shikadai said and yanked Inojin into a hard kiss. It lasted longer than they intended it to be. “Take home the victory.”

Inojin made his way into the stadium and Shikadai and Chocho positioned themselves on the bench their friends had claimed as theirs. Boruto, Sarada and Mitsuki sat there already, with popcorn.

“Yay, now it’s Inojin’s turn!” Boruto said and stuffed his mouth full of popcorn. “He better – oh shit, what _is_ that other guy? He’s probably five years older than us at least!”

They looked down on the other guy in the arena, who indeed seemed neither merciful nor particularly easy to defeat.

The fight began.

The five friends and a dog sat in the audience stand and followed the fight with tension and thrill. The fight was way more outdrawn than the fight before. That kunoichi from earlier had brought home the victory in two minutes, and when Inojin’s fight started its fifteenth official minute, everyone around them started looking rather worried.

“Please, let it not end in tie”, Shikadai mumbled to himself. Chocho munched uncontrollably at chips, while Chowi happily licked the crumbs that fell between Chocho’s fingers.

Yes! Inojin managed to fool his opponent! Now if he just creates a diversion powerful enough with his Ink Beasts, then the Mind Transfer could take care of the rest. Shikadai couldn’t keep sitting down.

“FINISH HIM, INOJIN!” he shouted while pressing himself against the rail of the balcony.

And then –

“Mind Destruction Jutsu!”

Oh. He went that route.

“What are you doing? Stop! Stop! I give up! I give up! I yield! _Yield!_” the opponent yelped as he dug his kunai into his own thigh, directed by Inojin.

“And the winner is Yamanaka Inojin!”

Inojin was promoted to chunin a couple of days after his victory. He wouldn’t stop smiling for days after he got his chunin west, and even if he, just like everyone else, left it collecting dust in his wardrobe (_“I seriously doubt this murky green colour fits me… What is up with that look, Shikadai? I’m serious!”_).

Even if he still had insecurities, he got a major confident boost from his promotion. From feeling like the most useless ninja in the whole world he finally, after being able to master the Yamanaka jutsus, after the reassurance that he can save lives on the battlefield, felt like he _mattered_ in a fight, like he wasn’t a burden to his teammates.

Even the work in the flower shop flowed easily nowadays and Ino told him that the old ladies in the village had started to ask her when “the cute boy” is working.

“Don’t tell them when my shifts are!” Inojin had exclaimed.

“Already did.”

“Feel lucky”, Sai had pointed out. “No one have ever asked when I’m working there.”

“Aargh, mum, that is so embarrassing!” Inojin began when his voice cracked, and he became so startled he slapped his hands against his mouth. Was it finally the puberty voice change he subconsciously was longing for?

Yes, it was the rocket speed puberty knocking on the door, and he realized soon enough that voice change was more annoying than exciting. Besides, his clothes became too small and he had to buy bigger sizes of both t-shirts and trousers and he grew almost 10 centimetres in height in just one summer. He was now almost as tall as Shikadai and he never failed to bring that up on different occasions and it didn’t matter that the acne breakouts on his back were itchy because he finally didn’t feel like the baby in the group anymore.

He let his hair grow out. By the end of the summer his hair was past his shoulders, fair and straight.

“How do you keep your hair so soft?” Shikadai sounded almost accusing when sliding his fingers through Inojin’s hair.

The main reason the Naras kept their hair tied up in the wild ponytail was simple, because their hair type tended to be on the wilder side, hair that just didn’t lay flat down (and mum’s genes did not help either). It got even worse when brushing it, which was why Shikadai always just ran his fingers through his hair instead of brushing and why he used to stare at Inojin in awe while he brushed his own hair.

“It’s aaaall Yamanaka genes_”, _Inojin answered as he tied it up in a silky ponytail. “Come on. Chocho will probably call any second now. You can take the phone in the living room; I take the one in mum and dad’s room.”

“What are you up to?” Sai asked when Inojin and Shikadai occupied _both_ phones in the household.

“Chocho’s going to call at seven”, Inojin said. “We figured it would be easier if we use both phones, so we won’t have to cram around one.”

“How long’s your little group chat going to be?” Ino asked. “I might want to do some calls, too.”

“Depends on how much Chocho wants to tell”, Inojin said with a shrug, at the same time as the phone rang. “Shikadai! I answer and you lift the mouthpiece on your phone and press 1 so we’re on the same line.”

“I know how a phone works!” came the reply from the living room.

Chocho’s community service in Kumo was ending, in fact, she was about to take the ferry to Kiri tomorrow. She just wanted to spill some beans from her visit in Kumo came to an end, and if Ino knew Chocho right, it could take a while.

“Come on”, she said to Sai at the same time as Inojin started talking. “Let’s go out for a beer or something.”

“Sure”, Sai said, and before they left, he peered inside to Inojin. “Remember the deal. If the phone bill for this call exceeds 2000 ryo, you’re paying it yourself.”

“Get out”, Inojin mouthed to him as Sai heard Chocho babble on, on the other side of the line.

The wind was warm and comforting. The bottles of beer laid scattered on the meadow, along with empty bags of chips, takeaway ramen boxes and cigarette boxes. The sixteenth generation, along with their better halves, sat or laid in the meadow inside the Nara forest after spending the whole evening together.

“Remember to take the trash with you when you leave”, Shikamaru mumbled, eyes closed and cigarette in mouth. “I don’t want the deer to eat this shit.”

“Okay, I take you with me”, Temari said as she stroked a stray hair from his face.

“You’re troublesome”, Shikamaru sighed.

“Well, do you know how troublesome it is to have a youngster dog in the house”, Karui said. “I regret ever giving Chocho permission to get that dog. Potty training that rascal made me almost burst a blood vessel.”

“I like Chowi”, Choji said. “And it was not that hard to get her to do her business outside.”

“You’re taking Chocho’s side in this”, Karui sighed. “You love spoiling her, did you know that, Choji?”

“The dog or the daughter?”

“Both of them!”

“Everyone knows you’re spoiling Chocho”, Ino cut in.

“Come on! After everything that happened during the winter to her, to all of them, I couldn’t just say no to a little puppy”, Choji said.

“Little? She weights almost 25 kilos already!”

“Chowi was a reward for staying alive, Karui.”

Everyone had done their best to overcome the things that had been done to their children up in the North. They rarely spoke of it, almost pretending like it didn’t happen, like most shinobi were used to do. They could just vaguely hint at it, if something had to be discussed, and everyone understood. Talking out loud still hurt.

But just true to Choji’s character, he was the least prone to just swallow the pain. He wanted to talk, to process that he nearly lost his daughter together with his friends who had gone through the exact same thing. He had forced them to come out of the shinobi shell, the tough exterior that didn’t allow wallowing in the past.

Their children talked about it. They weren’t used to wearing the tough exterior, and Shikadai had with the countless sessions with the therapist talked about everything that he had felt and gone through. It was a blessing that their children had been spared the need and demand to swallow their own tears and fears.

“Omoi told me”, Karui began, “that the Bastards of Kumo are now longer a thing. After the death of their leaders the whole organization fell in pieces. The Raikage and Shimo’s feudal lords came into an agreement of peace, to not execute the remaining Bastards, who pleaded for mercy. To avoid further conflict, Kumo decided to financially help Shimo, so the remaining Bastards could move into that village and get proper education, and later on a job as shinobi.”

“So… they _were_ pardoned”, Temari pondered.

“Only those who gave up and admitted their crimes”, Karui said. “A few went on the run to other countries, a few were executed, but because that organization was kept together by Nora and Soni, not much of it remained after their deaths. Most of the arrested members begged for mercy.”

“Sounds like a reasonable solution”, Ino said. “And I’m so happy that it didn’t end in a bloodshed. This is such a proof that peace _is _possible too upkeep, if we just stop responding by vengeance and hate all the time. Kumo had a very mature response to the Bastards pleading for mercy.”

“However, there is one big downside to this peace”, Shikamaru said, earning everyone’s attention.

“What on earth do you mean?” Sai asked, now confused by Shikamaru’s seemingly switch of attitude. “There can’t be one single downside to this solution? Or do you want them to be hanged?”

“Naruto wants Konoha to arrange a new conference for _all_ dual citizens of _all_ nations and it’s going to be so troublesome I’m going to die.”

“Grow up for heavens’ sake!” Ino growled and slapped him on his leg with one of the empty ramen boxes. “You! Are! So! Insufferable!” She slapped him once per word.

“Listen to it! There are 301 registered dual citizens over the nations and managing that many kids and arranging a conference for them is going to be a drag. They even came up with a fancy name: ‘Dual Citizen Event’, DCE for short – argh, don’t you hear the sound of me overworking for the whole autumn.”

“The only sound I hear is you complaining”, Ino said. “Come on, Sai. Don’t you think Inojin and Shikadai are finished with their group chat?”

“Oh, Chocho called them today, right?” Choji said.

“Yup”, Ino confirmed. “They occupied both our phones.”

“Chocho is home in two days”, Karui said, and added ironically: “Can’t wait to have that little fur rascal home again.”

“Are you referring to Chocho or Chowi?” Shikamaru asked, earning another slap with the ramen box by Ino.

“Let’s go home”, Sai said to Ino, hinting to her to stop slapping her friend with a ramen box, as he took the box from her hands. He picked up more of their trash before standing up.

“Send Shikadai home when you get there”, Temari said.

Soon after Ino and Sai left, so did Karui and Choji. They thanked for the company and brought the trash with them, leaving Temari and Shikamaru alone. As soon as Karui and Choji made their way to the path that lead out of the forest a few deer peered out from behind the trees.

“You can come”, Shikamaru said, holding out his hand. The doe sniffed at his fingers before turning around.

“Shall we also go home?” Temari asked. “Let’s make pudding, so Shikadai has a nice surprise when he gets home.”

“You can go”, Shikamaru said. “I want to stay here for a while.”

“Why?”

“This is where I scattered mum’s ashes”, he said. “I just feel like staying a little while longer. Feels like I’m close to her here.”

True to Shikamaru’s nature, he fell asleep when Temari left him, and didn’t wake up when Shikadai walked into the meadow.

“Dad”, he whispered. “Wake up. Are you going to sleep here all night?”

It was really warm outside. Shikadai waited a moment, but Shikamaru didn’t wake up. And he didn’t try further. He laid down beside his dad in the grass and closed his eyes, listening to his father’s light snoring as he drifted away to sleep himself.

An hour later Temari came out again, wondering why Shikadai hadn’t come back. She sat by her boys, looking at them for the longest of moments, before she wedged herself between them, laying one arm over her son and feeling her husband drowsily put his arm around her waist.

“Love you, Tem”, he said in his sleep.

She laid awake a long time, smiling at the silence. Shikadai slept like a baby, and the nights he had done it with such ease since that January were few, and she was so happy that he finally seemed to have come to such a peaceful mindset that he was able to sleep well again.

“Inojin.” Shikadai’s voice was dry and Inojin knew immediately that he had bad news.

“What?” he asked.

“I got a call from my uncle”, he started, throwing himself on the bed. “About my upcoming mission in Suna.”

“What is it?” Inojin asked.

“They will combine all my leftover weeks of Suna missions into one”, Shikadai said. “So it wouldn’t be a drag to go back and forth now with my ‘limited freedom’ and all. But that means I won’t stay for two weeks; I will stay for six weeks.”

Inojin stared at him.

“Six weeks!” he exclaimed. “But – but that is a month and a half.”

“I know it’s troublesome, but my sick leave in the spring messed up the schedule and this is what we got”, Shikadai said. “I can’t just say no. Besides… I want to go. I like being there, and I’ve spent the whole summer here in this village. It would just be so nice to see something else, you know.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow night.”

Inojin fell on the bed beside Shikadai.

“This sucks”, he said. “I mean, six weeks is an eternity!”

“You’ll do fine”, Shikadai said as he took Inojin’s hand in his own. “It’s no eternity. Just six weeks. And then I’ll be here for the rest of the year.”

“You’ll be away for your birthday”, Inojin said, mouth in a frown. “How am I now going to give you a gift?”

“You don’t have to give me a gift”, Shikadai said. “And I can phone you.” He waited for an answer but received none. “Inojin…”

“This is the worst part with being together with a dual citizen”, Inojin said. “You being away all the time.”

“I’m sorry.” Shikadai threw his other arm around Inojin, turning his head so they looked at each other.

Inojin pushed himself slowly away from Shikadai.

“Inojin, don’t be like that”, Shikadai said with puppy eyes, sitting up. “I would love to stay here with you, but… I want to go.”

“Just let me concentrate”, Inojin said, with his hands in the Ram sign. Shikadai looked at him for a second or two.

“Who’re you searching for?”

“Mum and dad”, Inojin said. “They are quite far away now. Mum is at T&I and dad is somewhere outside Konoha. We’re okay.”

“Okay for what?”

“I kind of planned this”, Inojin said. “I wanted it to be special. And now that you are leaving tomorrow, it would feel special.”

Inojin looked at Shikadai, deep into his eyes. He leaned forward and kissed him, boldly. Puberty didn’t just come with voice change and height and acne; it came with sexual lust.

“Touch me”, he said against Shikadai’s lips, and he could almost hear how Shikadai’s heart started pumping harder. Inojin broke out in a smile and slowly removed his own shirt. “I want you to touch me.”

Shikadai brought his hand up to Inojin’s chest, seeing the small hairs on Inojin’s body rise from tension and excitement. He let his fingers brush across Inojin’s nipples and felt them harden a fraction. Inojin let out a shuddering breath of pleasure through his nose as he felt his blood rush down, making him hard.

“Like this?”

Were Shikadai’s eyes always that darn gorgeous?

“Just like that.”

Inojin pulled Shikadai’s shirt over his head and did the same to him, feeling every inch of his upper body, kissing his chest and collarbones. It didn’t take many minutes before their hands and lips moved downwards, away from their chests and down to the navels and hip bones, and finally, their hands found themselves down between each other’s legs. There was no need to hide boners this time.

“It tickles”, Shikadai giggled as Inojin stroked a finger over his bulge.

Oh, those butterflies. Those shivers. That tension. That jittery feeling overtaking their bodies. This just felt so _right._

“Would you like to?” Inojin asked with his fingers tugging on the waistband of Shikadai’s boxers.

“Yes.”

And for the first time since they admitted their feelings to each other, over a year since their first shy kiss, they touched each other’s naked bodies and kissed the parts only lovers had access to.

Ino walked into the kitchen. This August was hotter than August normally was, and she was thirsty and sweaty from her evening jog. The first thing she noticed in the kitchen was the pot laying carelessly on the stove. It wasn’t even straight on the hob and was left in a wonky position.

She looked inside the pot and found it empty, only with a line of salt dried into the aluminium. That was weird. Sai was always meticulous when cleaning the kitchen, he would never leave a dirty pot laying haphazardly on the stove, which narrowed the culprit down to exactly one specific Inojin.

Ino was too thirsty to call out for him to clean his own mess, so she poured a glass of cold water and opened the freezer to take out the ice tray. Her fingers felt the tray, but when she took it out, she found it completely empty. Someone had taken all the ice cubes and had the audacity to leave the empty tray in the freezer without refilling it.

Darn teenager, Ino thought as she drank her water and walked to the living room, where Sai sat watching a cooking show, bewitched.

“Look”, he said and pointed at the TV-screen. “She’s crying because she dropped her cake on the floor. They have only two minutes time left of baking, so I guess she lost the game.”

Sai was infinitely fascinated by cooking shows. He found civilians so funny when they could wail over seemingly insignificant, trivial matters like a dropped cake, when he himself had been brought up by constant loss and death. He had fought over real matters, dangerous matters, and that was why cooking shows was the funniest thing the TV channels could deliver him.

He sometimes even taped them to VHS-tapes, and that Ino found even more funny than civilians crying over cake.

“Is it so exciting you forgot to tell Inojin to clean his mess in the kitchen?”

“Oh, he just boiled some water”, Sai said.

“Why?”

“Didn’t ask.”

“I’ll go up and check on him”, Ino said, still a little bit annoyed over getting fooled by the empty ice tray. She went up the stairs and opened Inojin’s door without knocking. “Hey, if you empty the ice tray you fill it with water before putting it back in the freezer – “, she began and stopped herself when she saw Inojin sucking on one of the ice cubes. “What are you doing?”

“Oh”, Inojin blurted out and spit out the ice cube in a paper towel. “I don’t want it to swell.” His pronunciation sounded a bit off.

“Swell?”

“My tongue”, Inojin said.

“Have you hurt your tongue?” Ino asked and Inojin stuck out his tongue and revealed a silver piercing. “You pierced your tongue?”

“Yeah”, Inojin said and shrugged his shoulders. “Today before Shikadai left. It’s going to swell, and I don’t want that.”

“Why did you pierce your tongue?”

“You know how pierced ears is a thing among us Ino-Shika-Cho”, Inojin began. “Well, we figured out we wanted something else, something that defines _our_ generation and what _we _went through. Chocho suggested tattoos, but we settled for other piercings.”

Ino looked around his messy room and saw a glass of what appeared to be dirty water. She could guess what it was.

“And that is why you boiled water and salt together? To avoid infection?” she said. Inojin nodded and put the ice cube back in his mouth. “Did you all get in the tongues?”

Inojin shook his head while loudly melting the ice against his tongue.

“Where did Chocho and Shikadai get theirs?”

“What if it gets like stuck and you’ll rip your nose?” Sarada asked after examining the septum piercing in Chocho’s nose.

“Then I’ll look like a badass”, Chocho shrugged, throwing a stick to Chowi.

“You already look like a badass with that ring”, Sarada said. “What did your mama say?”

“She’s cool with it”, Chocho said. “But she said I can’t get my tattoo before I’m sixteen. It’s only a year left, less than a year.” She fell silent while trying to count in her head. “351 days left!”

“Are you sure you want a tattoo?” Sarada asked.

“Yes? I have already decided what I want”, she said and whipped her notebook out of her bag. Chowi came back with the stick and Chocho threw it again. She leafed through her notes and opened a page for Sarada. “It’s customary for Kumors to tattoo a sign of their powers. Mum has one on her leg, but I want it here.” Chocho patted on the outer part of her forearm. “This design.”

She showed the open page for Sarada, and the kanjis **雷蝶** that she had drawn carefully.

“Kaminari Cho”, Sarada read. “Thunder Butterfly.”

“I thought it would fit me perfectly”, Chocho continued and threw the stick to Chowi again. “But I’ll bribe Inojin into designing it in a cool way.”

“Hm”, Sarada hummed and let her eyes rest on Chowi as the dog brought back the stick. “Does she ever get tired?”

“Not really”, Chocho said and looked fondly at her dog. “She’s grumpy at me because I wouldn’t let her lick my face this morning. You know, because of my new piercing.”

“Spoiled dog”, Sarada said and threw the stick.

“Poor dog”, Chocho said. “And she’s going to be so sad when I go on vacation in September.”

“Why can’t she come with you to Kumo?” Sarada asked.

“Kumo? No, Kumo is not vacation, Kumo is home and job”, Chocho said. “We’re going to Suna. Inojin and I. Shikadai is there for the whole autumn and we’re going to visit him as a birthday gift.”

“He doesn’t know you’re going?”

Chocho smiled smugly.

“No”, she said.

“It suits you”, Shinki said over the breakfast table. Shikadai looked up from the newspaper he was reading and by instinct brought up his hand to touch his eyebrow that was now pierced.

“Thanks”, he replied.

“You look less deer with that one”, Shinki continued and Shikadai snorted.

“Less ‘deer’? What do you mean?”

“You look more like one of us with that”, Shinki said. “I mean, our family sports that kind of stuff. Like tattoos and makeup and stuff. That piercing fits.”

“Did you just say I looked like a deer before?”

“You know what I meant”, Shinki said, using that as an excuse to not elaborate further. “You’re the thinker out of us two, you can probably figure out why.”

“You’re a drag”, Shikadai said and sipped his coffee. “Look.” He flipped the newspaper so Shinki could read the article. “They are going to have another conference for all dual citizens in Konoha in the spring. Hopefully it won’t turn into a mess.”

Shinki looked at the newspaper.

“Hm”, he said. “This explains why father has been so busy. Want more coffee? I can boil another pot.”

“Yup”, Shikadai said. “Make another serving.”

Kankuro walked into the kitchen, no hood and no face makeup applied.

“Good morning”, he said. “Is there more coffee coming? Shinki, two cups for me.” He turned to Shikadai. “Slept well?”

Shikadai nodded and showed the newspaper to Kankuro.

“Did you know about that?”

Kankuro grabbed the newspaper and skimmed through the article.

“I’ve overheard stuff”, he said. “But hey, kid, after your limited freedom is revoked in a few months, we’re going to the south of Wind Country on some special missions, but you need to prepare for them. So, your first in-village mission here during your stay is studying Southern Wind Tongue.” He slammed a dusty, thick book on the table in front of Shikadai and Shikadai heard how Shinki was giggling in the kitchen.

“Excuse me?” Shikadai said and looked at the book, which seemed like the most troublesome book ever written.

“Missions in southern Wind Country are usually the most dangerous”, Kankuro explained. “But that part of Wind Country is a little bit special, because they’ve got their own language. So, when we go to missions there, we usually have interpreters or then we manage with body language. Interpreters die too easily, which is why it’s hell of a lot easier when one of our shinobi knows the language. Learn it. Then I can teach you how missions in southern Wind Country works.”

“Are you saying I will spend my stay here reading a damn book learning a language?” Shikadai asked.

“Nah, only a week”, Kankuro said. “Then we have something else for you.”

“I could’ve done the same in Konoha”, Shikadai muttered, thinking about how he just left his friends and Inojin a week earlier than he could have needed.

“Yeah, but then you’d have your mum as a teacher and I bet you’d rather want to do self-study here than under her supervision”, Kankuro said and winked an eye at him.

“Fair enough”, Shikadai said and opened the book. “What is this alphabet? This is going to be a drag, isn’t it?”

“But you’re smart”, Shinki said as he walked in with the coffeepot. “So, you’ll probably get the gist of it fast.”

“What a drag”, Shikadai mumbled, slurping loudly his new coffee to wordlessly share his discontent with the rest of his family.

Shikadai woke up late the 23rd of September. He had given his uncles instructions to not wake him up before he himself did so, and that was a good enough birthday present. He knew though that his parents had sent him a present; it had arrived yesterday, but Gaara had taken it with him to his office so Shikadai couldn’t open it before the right date.

He laid in bed for a while before deciding to wake up for real and make some coffee. He lazed away, still wearing nothing but boxers, to the kitchen.

“You sure you don’t wanna get dressed?” Shinki greeted him from the kitchen.

“Huh?” Shikadai grunted and before he had time to turn around someone jumped out from behind the corner and he brought up his hands ready to attack whoever it was that startled him.

“Happy birthday!” Inojin and Chocho shouted in unison and the hostile shadow almost reached them before Shikadai let his hands go.

“Aaargh, I hate you!” he shouted. “Don’t scare me like that, gods! What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to celebrate your birthday, silly”, Chocho said with a grin on her face. “You should see your face.”

“I still hate you”, Shikadai grumbled and stormed into his room, where he put on sweatpants and a light t-shirt. “How long have you been planning this?”

“Since this day”, Inojin said and showed his tongue and the piercing, referring to the day when they all got different body piercing as a sign of their team bond. “Chocho and I decided we would come for your birthday.”

“I am very surprised you managed to keep quiet of this”, Shikadai said and kissed Inojin. “Hi, sweetie. You don’t know how happy I am to see you again.” He turned to Shinki. “Oh yeah, Shinki, this is Inojin, my boyfriend. And this is Chocho, our teammate. You remember them, don’t you?”

“Of course he remembers our fight in our first chunin exam”, Chocho said, almost aghast that Shikadai even hinted at Shinki maybe not remembering them,

Shinki did a military salute to Inojin and Chocho.

“I fetched them from the train station, so we had time for formalities then”, Shinki said. “When you were asleep like a baby. But yeah, welcome to Suna.”

Chocho and Inojin thanked for his welcome and for their hospitality by letting them sleep over at their house.

Shinki walked over to the fridge and opened it, revealing a cake. Chocho squealed at the sight of the creamy cake and Shikadai just stared with raised eyebrows.

“Come on, you did just not bake a cake”, Shikadai said. “I told you that my sleep-in-morning would be my present.”

“But did you think Kankuro would actually listen to you?” Shinki said, placing the cake on the table. “He went constantly on about how he thought he would wake you up and ruin the fun, but you slept like a log. He’s probably here in a minute. Father is also coming after his day at work.”

True to Shinki’s prediction, within a minute Kankuro came down from his flat, makeup fully done and a hood over his head.

“Hello”, he greeted the guests. “Welcome to Shikadai’s birthday party.” He rubbed Shikadai’s shoulders as he walked past him and Inojin and Chocho giggled at Shikadai’s embarrassed face and the blush that covered his cheeks.

“This family is weird”, Shikadai mouthed, referring mostly to his older uncle who started to set the table for a party. Kankuro eyed quickly the two teammates before nodding to Inojin.

“Hopefully you’ve got sunscreen with you”, he said, hinting at Inojin’s pale skin and how he’d probably burn himself after just ten minutes in the sun.

“Two bottles”, Inojin said, with a voice that revealed that Kankuro was not the first one to point out his need for sunscreen.

“Anyways, just so you know, in this household we drink coffee with no milk”, he added as he placed cups for everyone.

“They don’t have to drink if they don’t want to”, Shikadai cut him off.

“I want to try!” Chocho said, rubbing her hands together while Inojin just mumbled something incomprehensible to avoid an actual answer.

Chocho managed to drink her full cup of coffee without making any faces at the bitterness of it. She may have a sweet tooth, but anything that could be digested fell in her taste. They sat by the table for most of the day, talking and celebrating Shikadai’s fifteenth birthday.

“I know I can’t show you anything outside the village, but if we climb on the roof I can show you how vast the desert is”, Shikadai nattered on as they climbed up to the roof of the highest building in Suna. “Look at this view.” They stood silently for a moment, taking in the breath-taking view. “I could just stare at the desert for hours. Watch the sand dunes slowly change shape. Follow the shadows movement.”

“It’s beautiful”, Chocho said and they stood in silence for a long time, just watching. Just taking in the view and the desert.

The sun was just about to go down.

Orange light was cast upon the sand dunes and above the red-orange luminosity stars covered the sky.

“Hm”, someone behind then huffed to get attention.

They turned around to see Gaara stand behind them.

“Oh, your workday is over”, Shikadai said. “Hi.”

“Welcome to Suna”, Gaara said to Inojin and Chocho, and they, confused over how formal this meeting was, proceeded to bow to him.

“Lord Kazekage”, Chocho greeted.

Gaara smiled thinly to them. He had a letter in his hands.

“Shinki told me you were here”, he said and looked down at the letter in his hands. He looked up at Shikadai and held up the envelope. “Consider this a present from the Five Great Nations.”

What?

Shikadai raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth but he was unsure what he was supposed to say. Did he just hear Gaara correctly?

“Excuse me?” was the first thing he said.

“It’s for all of you”, Gaara said. “We wrote it today. Freshly printed. Take it.”

“Who’re ‘we’?” Inojin whispered to Chocho as Shikadai walked up to his uncle and took the envelope.

“The Kages, of course, you pinhead”, Chocho whispered back. Shikadai went over to them and turned the golden envelope in his hands. “But what _is it?”_

Shikadai opened the envelope and exposed the letter inside it. The trio read the first lines of the letter and Inojin started laughing.

“They can’t be serious!” he said and looked over to Gaara. “Are you serious? Like seriously serious?”

Gaara nodded once.

“Uncle”, Shikadai said. “You’ve got some explanation to do now.”

“The preparations for the incoming Dual Citizen Event in Konoha are in full motion”, Gaara said. “We’re sending out invitations to interesting individuals we’d like to be speakers for the event, and the Raikage proposed you three.”

“But why?” Shikadai said. “I destroyed the last conference, why on earth would you like _me_ to be the main speaker at the incoming DCE? I understand you want Chocho and maybe why you want Inojin, but why me?”

“Precisely because of that”, Gaara said. “Think about it. You three became the epicentre of what is considered this year’s greatest political mess, but you killed the leader of the terrorist organization. You owned up your mistakes and faced the consequences.” He let his eyes rest on them for a while, with a small wrinkle between his brows. “You paid great prices for being dual citizens. You became ill, hurt, wounded and treated like animals, but you all survived that, all by yourselves. Your story is worth being told. We all agreed on that, and that is exactly why the five Kages ask you three; would you like to be the main speakers at the DCE in March?”

“Yes”, Chocho said without thinking twice. “Yes, it would be an honour, Lord Kazekage.” She bowed lightly. “Thank you for this opportunity.”

“But I’m not even a dual citizen”, Inojin whispered.

“Shut up and accept”, Chocho hissed to him.

“Yes, I accept this mission”, Inojin said and just as Chocho, bowed. They both looked at Shikadai, who fiddled with the official letter.

“I – I don’t know”, he said. “It feels like I’m stealing a chance that is not meant for me.”

“What? They asked you, why would you say that?” Inojin started.

“Because I’m still feeling so fucking guilty for destroying the conference!” Shikadai let out, without controlling neither his sound level nor emotions.

They hadn’t talked about the explosion in a while now. It had been almost eight months. Inojin and Chocho had most likely moved on already. Dwelling in the past was troublesome and stupid and Shikadai knew it but at the same time, it was so hard to stop _feeling guilty. _To stop revisiting the memory of confusion and panic and paranoia and the absolute feeling of being watched by spies that weren’t even there. That had maybe been the hardest part to accept, that there, in the end, hadn’t been a single spy at the conference. That was all a lie by Nora, a lie that Shikadai’s disorder had fed on and turned into huge proportions.

“You don’t know how it feels!” he continued, anger and frustration once again raging through his body. “You managed to evacuate everyone, and – and you got freed of all charges –“ Shikadai pointed at Inojin. “And you got a dog – “ He pointed at Chocho. “But what did I get? A mental disorder and limited freedom! While you were acting like heroes I was chained to a table feeling _satisfied_ by what I had done and my parents almost sacrificed their lives to save me, and I still have this burn on my arm from when that conference centre exploded, and it was _my _doing! You can move on and live happy lives, while I still have to pay for that building! Do you know how expensive it is? It’ll take me years to pay my debt to Kumo, years!”

“Shikadai…” Chocho said.

“Don’t ‘Shikadai’ me!” Shikadai snarled and thrusted the letter at the floor. “I can’t do this. You know how much people whisper around me, how they stare. You heard what the other Naras said to me during the three-clan meeting, that I’m a psycho and whatever the fuck they called me. I can’t stand being a main speaker at an event when I know I could have killed more than two hundred people, and you two among them at the previous conference. I’m sorry. I won’t do this.”

Shikadai turned around, opened his fan and jumped off the roof, gliding down to ground level. Without looking back, he marched back home, with tears burning behind his eyelids and a throat that hurt and a jaw clenched shut to avoid sobbing.

They were all idiots if they imagined he could stand in front of dual citizens, in front of the 28 half Kumors that could have died from the blue seal bombs.

Shinki gave him a questioning look when he stormed into the apartment.

“Don’t ask”, Shikadai snarled and slammed the bedroom door shut behind him. There, in his own silence after he had stabilised his own breath and organised his thoughts, he realized how childish it was of him to just run away like that and leave his guests and uncle standing on a roof. He felt ashamed of his own reaction and sank down on the bed, violently rubbing away any sign of tears. He sat there in the darkness until he heard Inojin and Chocho’s voices outside. _Please, don’t talk to me. _They didn’t come closer to his room and the voices faded again.

If he was completely honest, he felt relieved that they didn’t approach him, but just as soon as that thought entered his head, the more ashamed he felt. They couldn’t possibly understand how he felt about this issue and his stubbornness, undoubtedly inherited from his mother, prevented him from leaving the room and apologise. Suddenly the stone pattern of the ceiling felt more interesting as he laid on his back looking at the mesmerizing craftwork. It was calming to search for patterns and count the uneven corners.

It took a moment before someone opened the door and Shikadai saw Gaara stand in the opening.

“Can I come inside?” Gaara asked. Shikadai nodded.

“I’m sorry…” Shikadai sighed, “for storming off like that.”

“Shikadai”, Gaara said as he sat beside Shikadai. “I know exactly what you’re going through.”

“How?” Shikadai asked. “How can you know? I know you had the One Tail, but this is different.”

“I’ve destroyed this village many times as a child”, Gaara said. “Our uncle died by my hand. Our mum’s brother.”

Shikadai pushed himself onto sitting position. Temari had never mentioned this uncle before to him.

“Yashamaru”, Gaara continued. “I loved him. We all loved him. And he loved us. And I killed him. It took me many years to process it, many years of hopeless self-loathing and heart wrenching guilt turned into blind hate. But in the end, I managed to bring myself up from the pit of darkness.

I didn’t do it alone. I had Naruto who helped me. Kankuro and Temari held my back. My mother’s love for me turned out to be a bigger support than I ever imagined. I wasn’t supposed to be the Kazekage, I didn’t feel like being worthy of it. Your mother was supposed to bear that title, not me. But that feel of worthlessness – it became my drive. I wanted to become Kazekage because I wanted to help my village. I wanted to pay back the hurt I had caused it. Temari and Kankuro trained me and prepared me and talked the council into accepting me as their Kazekage. I am forever grateful.”

“It sounds great when talking about it, but – “

“I have your back, Shikadai”, Gaara continued. “Whatever guilt you’re ever going through, I know that guilt like the back of my hand. And don’t think Suna welcomed me with open arms back when I first was crowned as Kazekage. I had to earn their trust. You must earn people’s trust, too, and this chance… to be honest, it’s great. Everyone knows the name and the face of the person who committed a terror attack the last conference. But they don’t know your story. Give them that story.”

Shikadai looked up and a tiny, weak smile could be seen on his lips.

“Your story is worth being told”, Gaara continued. “And that is precisely why we want you and your team as main speakers. Because there is power in stories.”

Shikadai found Inojin and Chocho sitting in the sofa, watching a quiz-show on the TV. Shinki sat by the kitchen table and gamed on his console, while Kankuro had taken upon the mission of keeping the guests company. He mumbled silently insults to the players in the quiz whenever they answered wrong and when he himself answered wrong, he cursed under his breath.

“Hey”, Shikadai said as he walked up behind the sofa. His fingers found themselves playing with Inojin’s ponytail. Inojin and Chocho turned around.

“Are you okay?” Inojin asked.

“Yeah”, Shikadai said. “Can we go outside for a while?”

“But I must see if he answers correctly”, Chocho hurried to say and pointed at the TV. “If he answers correctly, he wins 10 000 ryo!”

The man didn’t have the correct answer.

“Imbecile not knowing what a mitochondrion is”, Kankuro muttered.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t know what it is either!” Shinki shouted from the kitchen.

“Come”, Shikadai said and nudged Inojin on his shoulder. “Let’s go outside.”

They walked outside and Shikadai convinced them into climbing again up on the rooftop. There he walked to the rail enclosing the roof and leaned his forearms against it.

“I’m sorry for lashing out like that”, Shikadai sighed. “I just got so incredibly angry and defensive and self-hating – “

Inojin broke off his talking by hugging him really, really tightly.

“It’s okay”, he said. “You don’t have to do it.”

“The psychiatrist warned me that stuff like this can happen, even months later”, Shikadai said after he had carefully pushed himself off Inojin. “That I can get angry outbursts and even relapse with longer and more acute outbursts. It’s important for me to calm down as soon as possible, before these outbursts run out of hand and possibly turn into a psych... whatever. That was why I left you. It felt easier to deal with everything if I was alone.”

“You don’t have to explain”, Chocho said. “You do what you need to do, and we’ll understand.”

“They said that there will probably be relapses, that the road to total recovery is never a straight line”, Shikadai continued.

Inojin seized this moment to make the worst joke of the century.

“Well, that sounds about right”, he started casually. “The road to recovery is not straight but neither are you.”

Chocho burst out in uncontrolled laughter and Shikadai laughed dryly to Inojin, who seemed extremely pleased with his bad joke.

“You suck”, Shikadai said to Inojin, meant as a gibe to his bad sense of humour, but that ignited an even more hysterical laughter from Chocho. “Not like that, you pervert! God, Chocho, I didn’t mean like that. Stop laughing, it’s not funny, you silly.”

Chocho tried her hardest to talk while choking her laughter.

“Hehe… was so funny…hihi… not straight… ahahaha you _suck_ haha suck on what hahaha!”

After a while she calmed herself down and tears had been streaming down her face out of the laughter.

“Woah”, she said. “That felt good.”

“Glad to be of service”, Shikadai said. “Eh, by the way… about the DCE…” He held up the golden envelope that Gaara had given back to him. “Gaara talked to me about it and I accepted. We are going to be the main speakers at the incoming DCE.”

Team 10 remained on the rooftop for a long time. Shikadai sat and Inojin laid with his head against Shikadai’s chest and Chocho sat on the other side of Shikadai, leaning against his back so they provided support for each other.

The sun was gone from the sky, and the only light source were the thousand and thousands of stars above them.

“Guys”, Shikadai said after a moment silent of stargazing. “Thank you both. So, so much. For being there for me. For being my team. For everything.”

“It’s a pleasure to be on a team with you”, Chocho said.

“Yeah”, Inojin murmured in Shikadai’s embrace, and then added, with the softest of voices: “I love you.”

The sun had gone down, but Team 10 kept on shining bright.

**THE END**

**Update: Sequel "To dance above the Stars" uploaded summer 2020**

**Read chapter 18, the intro-chapter! ->**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finished!
> 
> I started writing this on the 10th of October with a vague idea of the Bastards and an explosion that originally was meant to be part of the final battle, and today, 58 days, later, I finished this fic that turned out into so much more. I've grown incredibly fond of these kids during these months, hopefully you've done so, too. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading, leaving kudos and commenting!
> 
> Please, let me know what you thought about this rather lengthy story, I'd love to hear your reviews :) 
> 
> I'll be back in January with something new, and hopefully I'll hear from all of you then, but until then, my tumblr is unioncolours.tumblr.com, feel free to chat (and throw writing requests at me)!


	18. Sequel: To dance above the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! 
> 
> Firstly, I want to thank everyone for reading this story. It is still the fic I hold closest to my heart.
> 
> I am happy to announce that I will write a sequel for it.

Shikadai hesitated. The sky was dark above the illuminating light of the electrical neon lights trailing Konoha's streets. No stars could be seen. They had walked along the streets through the centre of Konoha, through the buzzling crowds of citizen preparing for celebrating New Year.

Inojin noticed he slowed down his pace, turning around to shoot a smile to Shikadai.

“What is it?” he asked. Shikadai bit down on his tongue before shrugging.

“There’s going to be fireworks”, he told Inojin. “You know. I don’t know what I’m going to think of the sound. And the lights.”

Inojin came closer to him, into his private space.

“It’s going to be okay”, he said. “If you need to get out, we can go home again. And I’ll be there with you.”

“It’s just embarrassing if I ruin your New Year by not handling fireworks”, Shikadai said, scratching himself on the back of his neck.

“Sweetie”, Inojin said. “As long as you are there, my New Year is not going to be ruined. It doesn’t matter if we can see the fireworks or not, what matters is that I want to celebrate New Year with you.”

Shikadai chuckled lightly at Inojin’s sweet words.

“Thanks”, he said.

“Anytime”, Inojin said, and after throwing a glance around him, checking that people weren’t staring at them, he leaned in and kissed Shikadai. “Come. Chocho is probably already up on the mountain.”

“Flirting with Mitsuki”, Shikadai added.

“Of course she is”, Inojin laughed and grabbed Shikadai’s hand, entwining their fingers. Together, they made their way up to the mountain above the Hokage Stone Heads, to celebrate New Year.

**Now uploaded on my user!**

**To dance above the Stars**

A sequel to To go down with the Sun

Everything seemed to be okay after all

Shikadai worked for both Konoha and Suna, and was soon about the be free from his limited freedom, trying to forget what he once had done.

Chocho worked for both Konoha and Kumo, and was in love. Things were looking bright.

Inojin worked for Konoha, happy to have Shikadai by his side and he had forgiven himself for all the things he once hated in himself.

Everything seemed to be okay after all.

But then again

Under Konoha lies catacombs

And the roots go deep, deep, deep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I still have to _ write_ this haha!
> 
> I've mulled over the plot since March, and it's still all over the place, but oh well :D Let me know what you think will happen in the sequel!
> 
> **To dance above the Stars is now live!**
> 
> \- Majsasaurus
> 
> tumblr: unioncolours.tumblr.com  
twitter: majsasaurus (i post a lot of sneakpeeks and fic-writing rambles)


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